


WoF x CSRverse I guess. Arc 1.

by SharkJack



Series: WoF X CSRverse AU [1]
Category: Bx: Execute (OFF Fangame), UNLOAD (OFF Fangame), Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Adoption, Angst, Attempted Murder, Blood, F/M, Fainting, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I'm directly interfering with canon now, It's not Ghost if he's not swearing, Just a couple of gay dragons, Love Confessions, M/M, Mild Gore, PTSD (Eddie's not having a good time), Sick Characters, Specifically attempted child murder, Stabbing, Swearing, Violence, Will add more tags each update (That needs them at least), but it's okay she lives and thrives, heat exhaustion, mentions of vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 42,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28016109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharkJack/pseuds/SharkJack
Summary: I posted a poll on Twitter as a joke, hoping no one would vote in 12 hours. Welp.Just ignore this if you want, but if you're a fan of CSRverse and Wings of Fire then feel free to read
Relationships: Carbine/Lepi (One-sided), Ghost Batter/Huaso
Series: WoF X CSRverse AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2052042
Kudos: 7





	1. Fuck it, WoF au (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie's PoV

This is stupid.

The hot cobble streets of Possibility are irritating under Eddie’s scales, not so much the heat, that was welcome. No, the pebbles were too big and sharply pressed into his palms, like giant grains of sands that refused to commit to his namesake and curl around his talons nicely.

Eddie doesn’t live in Possibility, thankfully, but apparently this is where the best blacksmith in all of Pyrrhia lived, and he needed to repair an important item his younger brother accidentally broke. It was a valued weapon, older than their great grandfather. Granted, he had no clue what the weapon was, the base was a completely smooth and sharp-ended cone, making it impossible to hold, and the dangerous part- if he could call it that- was an orb with 5 spikes on it, like the sun itself decided to settle there.

The worse it could really do was give someone a headache, as the spikes aren’t long enough to get past any scales, but it was still a family heirloom that needed to be restored properly. The handle and spikes are in his pouch, but the broken orb had to be handled by claw, making Eddie awkwardly walk on 3 feet.

Finally, he makes it to the fabled smithy. The door and the single window are completely shut, with loud clanging sound coming from inside. There’s a sign on the door with some of the weirdest claw-writing Eddie’s ever read.

“Rules for the tribes entering the Blacksmith:

Skywings: Keep your distance from the blacksmith, but don’t worry if I get too close without thinking, try and get out as fast as you can once your business is done.

Seawings: Same as Skywings, however, if you’ve just come from the water, please dry yourself off.

Sandwings: Keep your tails tucked in and try not to flick your tongue towards me.

Icewings: Don’t panic and breathe frostbreath!! Every and all of these fires are under control! I made sure of it, I’m just as scared of it as you are.

Nightwings with mind reading: Don’t.

Nightwings with future sight: Don’t, I’m tired of you telling me what I’m going to do next or if something might explode, I’ve gone this long without you I don’t need your help.

Mudwings: Don’t lean on anything or light anything on fire.

Rainwings: You aren’t allowed inside, I’ll still conduct business with you, you’ll just have to wait outside.”

It’s an odd rulelist, but as long as it helps him work. Eddie makes sure his scorpion tail is rolled safely behind him, then walks inside.

As expected, it’s pretty dark! There’s no natural light, and no fires seemingly lit. It takes a second for Eddie to adjust, his vision somewhat adjusting after his long walk in the midday desert sun. The clanging from earlier has stopped, did the blacksmith leave? There’s no way he could navigate in this dark, no matter what kind of dragon he was.

Speaking of, Eddie wasn’t sure this guy existed for a while, everyone seems to think of him differently. He’s been called a seawing, skywing, some kind of shapeshifting rainwing, a mutant, hybrid- those later bring some dragons to start yelling bad things about hybrids, anything to complain about other tribes without risking a single tribe to fight back, not when everyone thinks hybrids are odd.

Cautiously, Eddie puts his orb-weapon-thing down on an empty countertop, and starts looking around. He doesn’t want to yell and spook the poor guy if he’s in here, because surely there’s hundreds of spears, swords and sharp items around waiting to be worked on, instead of stabbing into a jumping dragon.

However, he doesn’t find the guy. Maybe he should try again later? Turning around, though, he spots something… Shiny…

Scattered scales on the floor, green but somehow reflecting a rainbow from the one spot of sunlight through the window’s cover. It looks exactly like a treasure hoard Eddie always wanted to have. Surely he won’t miss a few shiny green scales, right? After all, who would just spread them across the floor of a public smithy?

He reaches for the closest one, a small ball of light literally lighting u- wait why is it lighting up?

Actually, they’re ALL lighting up, and it turns out the scales are attached to a dragon! They’re glowscales of a seawing, somehow a pink- no, that shade’s pretty ashy, a pale red seawing?

The seawing spreads his wings angrily- No, those are a Sky’s wings, they’re absolutely massive with thin fingers, only fit for the fastest tribe in the whole continent. But the scales- but the color- but his FACE- but his claws- but his size?- But his-

They’re face to face now. The blacksmith has red goggles over his eyes, with a band tying them to his horns and across his snout. Only three scales on his face light up, letting Eddie see him clearly. Patches of his scale and skin have been melted off under his eyes. From what Eddie remembers in the 2 days he attended Jade Mountain Academy, seawings need at least _seven_ glowscales under each eye, this poor dragon only has one on his right, two on his left.

Eddie manages to find his thoughts that don’t resort to treating this guy like the treasure he expected. “H… Hey there. Are you the blacksmith?”

The hybrid, definitely hybrid, scoffs and says “Howdy there, are ya the greedy tail grabber?” Eddie scoffs back, ignoring the actual spite in his voice. “Hey, you’re the one with the treasure-like scales! I thought it was up for grabs, considering how pretty and precious-looking it was.”

“Ah’m not sure whether to take t’ compliment, or kick ya out. But, ah need business today. Why’re ya here?” He has this weird accent that Eddie’s never heard of before, and his voice was deeper than an average skywing’s, but also way raspier than a seawing’s should ever be, like he hasn’t _seen_ water in years.

Trotting back to the weapon, Eddie uncurls his tail to swiftly scoop it back into his claws, the weight is suddenly obvious now that he hasn’t been carrying it for an hour straight. His tail swings back and nearly hits the blacksmith in the face.

“By the moons- Now ya can’t follow basic rules!” He shouts.

Eddie suddenly feels guilty, leaving his tail unchecked has been a common issue for him.

The blacksmith shakes it off and offers to take the broken weapon, soon being handed the orb, broken bits of the handle and spikes. The blacksmith looks at it for a while in silence.

“Sooo…” Eddie starts “What’s your name?”

“Ya really think ah’m gonna give it to ya after yer stunts?”

“Well, i’m sorry, that was bad of me, what’s your name?”

“....Huaso.”

Eddie tilts his head “Not a very seawing name.”

“Yeah, well, ah’m not fully seawing.”

“It’s not very skywing, either!”

“Ah gave it t’ myself, now shut up an’ let me work on this.”

Huaso takes every piece to an anvil, only to spread them out and look at them further. Eddie waits around, tilting his wings differently every couple of minutes. Realizing it’s going to take forever, he shouts “I’m just going to go around town for a bit and come back when you’re maybe done, don’t let anyone steal that!”

“Ah won’t, ah ain’t some shady merchant!”

“Thanks.”

He quickly trots out and takes in the fresh air of the open delta. Huaso’s smithy was so dusty and tense that Eddie had to let out a sigh as soon as he escaped. The sun was a bit lower in the sky than when he went in, had he been waiting that long? Oh well.

A single step is all it took to remind him of how much he hated the cobblestone, but he didn’t feel like flying today, so he settled for taking slow steps in between each and every single patch of cobble.  
  


**“SANDSTORM INCOMING! EVERYONE SHUT THEMSELVES IN! GET DRAGONS OUT OF THE SKY! SEAWINGS NEED TO LEAVE THE RIVERS, OR THEY’LL BE BURIED UNDER A LAYER OF SAND!”**

Well, Eddie wasn’t expecting this. Actually, he didn’t even know sandstorms could reach the delta, even if the desert was just a few wingbeats away from it. It was already starting to turn the air orange and gray, with strong winds that could knock over any dragonet left on their own.

Eddie didn’t have anywhere to go, while he was looping back to the smithy, shops starting closing up, and they’re not going to risk opening their doors to a stranger that was too lazy to fly. But it’s not like he can start flying, now! This wind will surely drag him into a river, where he’ll have to decide between suffocating on air while swimming out, or let himself drown.

He realizes there’s one place he didn’t check, and he was right next to it. Testing the doorknob quickly, seeing it’s unlocked, he bursts into the smithy while slamming the door behind him. Everything here was made of some of the strongest metals, and thanks to Eddie’s own strength, he was able to shut every wind and grain of sand out… At least, the stuff that didn’t already fly in.

Huaso flings himself away from his work with a scowl on his face. “IF YER GONNA SLAM T’ DOOR, AT LEAST WARN- Oh, it’s you, well- WHY IS THERE SAND ALL OVER THE DAMN PLACE?”

“Do you seriously not fuckin’ know?! A sandstorm came out of NOWHERE! Why wasn’t your door locked?!”

“It doesn’t need t’ be, it ain’t locked right now, and yet there’s nothing knockin’ it down. Ah only lock it up at night so ah don’t git killed in mah sleep.”

“Sensible… I think?” Eddie looks around, having to adjust to the dark again. There’s a slight smell of embers, but no fire. “I guess while I’m fucking stuck here, mind if I ask how it’s going so far?”

Huaso shrugs with his wings and shows Eddie the completely restored weapon. “Ah was just makin’ sure it won’t fall apart at t’ lightest touch. It was hard t’ manage, but it should be ready as soon as you can leave.”

“Great! You have no idea how important this is!”

“No, ah know, these probably haven’t been used fer hundreds of years. But with how everythin’ fit together, there’s no way it’s a _better_ weapon!”

“Don’t make fun of my family heirloom.”

“It’s a shitty heirloom.” Huaso chuckles and grins, then walks to a cupboard and pulls out a few glow worm jars. The whole time, his entire body is lit up, but something tells Eddie it’s more for him instead of Huaso, as there’s no way Huaso can see past those goggles even with a Sea’s night vision.

Huaso starts placing the jars around the shop, soon he won’t need the help of his scales. Eddie glances up and finds some old lamps hanging from the ceiling. They would probably produce more light than some bugs in a jar. He sits on his hind legs and uses his tail to push himself up to reach them, spitting out a quick ball of flame into the closest one. It lights instantly and the room glows orange.

He does this again to the other lanterns, only on the last one does he see’s Huaso staring at him.

“... What? This is better.”

Huaso just growls and angrily collects his jars again, shoving them back in the cupboard without much care for the worms inside. He grumpily stomps over to a high alcove, leaping up and laying down, staring at Eddie some more.

Eddie awkwardly walks around the shop, now that it's lit up he can see how oddly organized it is. Despite how dark it often is, Huaso places things like he knows exactly where they were. Memorization? Or maybe an extreme level of night vision?

There’s a shuffling sound above him, the blacksmith that was giving him a deadly glare was now all wings to Eddie. “Ah’m going t’ sleep through this, it’ll only take a coupla minutes t’ fix yer heirloom. Don’t ask how, just trust ah’m skilled.”

“Well, you _did_ fix a hundreds-of-years-old weapon in just a few hours, so I’ll take your word for it.”

Eddie hears him yawn and Huaso shifts his wings to lay comfortably in his nest. After just a few seconds, he’s snoring. Well, he might as well snoop just a _little_ bit, not like there’s anything else for him to do here.

First, he looks around for a second nest, he doesn’t know how big the alcove holding Huaso’s was, or if he was welcome there. Absolutely nothing. Then he looks at all of the weapons, armor, and random items Huaso has lying around.

They’re incredibly well crafted, each blade looks like every piece of metal was used efficiently, and the armor looks lightweight while still protecting every vital organ. Eddie starts to wonder if Huaso makes his own designs, or maybe he has some sort of coworker? There’s no way he made all of these himself while also running the smithy for dragons to commission him whenever they’d like!

Another shuffling noise, Eddie glances up and finds Huaso flicking the tips of his wings a bit, probably a dream. Although while he’s looking, he notices something odd about the wings, something right along the edge.

What’s the worst he can do, kick him out into the middle of a sandstorm?

Actually yeah that’s the absolute worst, but Eddie’s not going to dwell on it further.

Carefully, he leaps onto the edge of the alcove, and thankfully it’s deeper into the wall than he expected. For a second he’s surprised Huaso’s sleeping so close to the edge of it, but it might just be his skywing half finding comfort in heights.

Stepping over the pale dragon, Eddie curls his tail around one of his own back legs and starts prodding Huaso’s wing a bit more open with one of his front. Just as he saw! Royal seawing patterns right along the edges! Eddie’s heard about how Queen Coral has 32 sons, thanks to the failed attempts of getting some heirs to her throne, but all of them are King Gill’s kids, weren’t they? She wouldn’t have gone off to mate with a skywing, especially not when they were at war at the time!

So maybe a grandchild? Nephew? Either way, what is he doing here in the _desert_ of all places? Working in this self-made smithy and walking around in the dark?

Huaso sighs in his sleep and rolls over, Eddie has to back up against the wall to give him space. And of course, this idea wasn’t planned through. With Huaso laying on the edge, Eddie can’t just step over him without getting extremely close, or just straight up falling, it’s impossible to see if there’s even an edge to step on now that Huaso moved.

At least he has an excuse, there’s no other nest! Accepting his eventual scolding, Eddie lays down and tucks Huaso under his wing.

It’s… Cold? It’s never cold in the desert, at least not until night. Even if it turns night, he’s always sleeping by something warm. His brothers, fire, extra blankets if he really needs them. There’s something unnaturally cold against him.

It’s actually a bit refreshing, it’s not as freezing as a desert night, it’s more like his scales getting washed by cold water after a bad burn.

Eddie opens his dark eyes, blinking them a few times. The coldness is mostly under his left wing, with his right cramped up against a wall… This isn’t his home.

He raises his head and looks at the sleeping dragon beside him. Oh yeah, he did something stupid yesterday, he hopped into someone else’s nest, prodded their wings open just to look, and slept next to them, uninvited.

A yawn erupts from him, and he manages to wake up just a touch more to stand. He could probably make an effort to leave the alcove, check on the sandstorm-

Huaso’s head is lifted and staring right at him.

Welp.

He’s doomed.

Huaso swiftly rolls onto his legs and slips off the alcove, landing gracefully on his claws again. He’s still keeping a close eye on Eddie, with a worried expression. Is he expecting Eddie to do something? Is he scared that Eddie’s dangerous, because of how careless he’s been disregarding Huaso’s rules?

Eddie feels that he has to salvage the situation somehow, he wasn’t expecting to scare off Huaso, he was expecting to piss him off and get it over with after a rant. “Fuckin’ sorry about that! There wasn’t really anywhere else I could sleep? I’ve been walking all day but I didn’t want to ruin your work and shit-”

“Do ya feel sick?”

“I… Is that a sort of backwards way of saying I’m a sick fuck?”

“No, no, Ah mean physically sick. Any stomach aches? A cough comin’ on? _Anything?_ ”

They wait for a couple of heartbeats, Eddie just nervously looks down at Huaso, while Huaso nervously looks up. Once Eddie can confirm that he doesn’t feel any different, he nonchalantly says “Nope!” And starts crawling down to give Huaso his nest back, then walks right past the hybrid to press an ear against the door.

“Hm… No good, winds are still fuckin’ howling like crazy and there’s not a single voice or wingbeat. Guess I have to stay longer!”

Looking back, he notices that Huaso’s trying to keep his distance, hopping back into the alcove and doing his usual “Stare and hope he leaves you alone” face. He lifts his head a bit and loses that face for a split second.

“Ah just realized, ya know my name, but ah never asked for yer’s…”

“Oh, huh, I forgot. It’s Eddie! With an ai ee instead of the normal one, my dad was weird.”

“Dunno when ah’m gonna have t’ spell it, but at least ah know what to call ya.” He picks at the assortment of dead leaves and old blankets under him, muttering a bit under his breath. With this extended visit turning even more awkward than it already was, the sandwing decides to lean into his curiosity. Eddie puts his front claws on the edge of Huaso’s alcove and rests his head right by the other’s claws, looking up at him. “Hey since we're stuck, can I ask a few questions?”

Huaso inches back from Eddie, but his tail bumps against the wall so he can’t anymore. “I… Fine? Are ya really sure yer good? Cuz ah’m a pretty sickly dragon... Normally when anyone’s around me or flick their tongues too close, they git sick real qu-” He freezes and yanks a claw from Eddie, who’s now leaning further into the alcove and decided to give Huaso’s front claw a lick.

He looks up with a shit eating grin “I can’t get sick! I think I fucked up so bad in my early life that I’m basically a dead dragon who can’t catch new shit!”

“ARE YA JUST A FUCKIN’ IDIOT?”

“That’s what everyone tells me, so probably!” He hauls himself into the nest and sits next to Huaso, putting a wing over him. “Alright, first question, are you really royalty?”

“...Yeah…”

They just talked for several hundred heartbeats, Eddie never got sick, and Huaso slowly started losing his grumpy attitude. The sandstorm would still be checked on every once in a while, but it wouldn’t be long before they completely forgot about it.

At some point, Huaso decides that Eddie’s safe enough to keep staying by him, specifically to sleep in the same nest to get the long night over with. They rested peacefully, with them pressing warm or cold scales against the other, lulling them into a deep sleep.

They’re woken up with a harsh knock on the door. Huaso groans and slips off to open it, leaving Eddie tired and confused as he tries to remember where the Moons he is. Said sandwing suddenly has a bright white light shining in his eyes. Apparently the knocking dragon was an Icewing, and the sky is extremely clear and blue.

“Ya ain’t looking for business this early, right?”

“Sir, it’s midday, I believe you’ve slept in. Either way, no, Queen Thorn heard about the sudden sandstorm and suggested that every resident do their part to clean up the town before the gardens suffocate.”

“Right, right, my only conditions are “Don’t git near me” fer some personal reasons.”

“Understood, you can start with this very street whenever you’re more awake.” The icewing flies off and unblinds Eddie, he yawns and clumsily trots over to Huaso. “Sandstorm’s over? Guess I have to fly home before my brothers start to actually miss me.” Huaso nods and heads over to the counter holding Eddie’s heirloom, handing the weapon back to him.

“Shit, I forgot to bring payment… I can help you clean up the street for it-”

“Don’t make excuses, now. Honestly, finding someone who won’t literally get sick by me is enough. Actually, ah have something else t’ give ya.” Walking to a small chest, he opens it just a touch and immediately pulls out something tiny. “Ya kept mentioning ah looked like treasure? Well here’s some of it. A scale, fer you!”

He drops the iridescent glowscale into Eddie’s palm, while most scales torn off by scars would be bloody or deformed, this one kept it’s perfectly square shape. Huaso is able to shock Eddie a bit by making it glow along with the other scales on his face, the two on Huaso’s left, so it probably used to go there.

“How did you-”

“Another question fer when you’re back… And this time, _bring supplies!_ Any good quality metal or wood will suffice! Now git, ah have a job t’ start.”

Huaso runs past him and flies into the mass of sand blocking everyone else’s door on the road, muttering angrily and using his wings to try and flap it away before he lands anywhere. Eddie pockets the scale in his pouch and carries the restored treasure in both claws as he flies home.

  
“...... _When_ I’m back?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading if you're not someone who I asked to read this! I gots social medias.
> 
> Tumblr: im-way-too-shy
> 
> Twitter: @kyas_wilders (Old @ but I'm too lazy to change it)
> 
> Youtube: Videos for Tumblr most likely


	2. Fuck it, WoF Au (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huaso's PoV

Today was a good day to go treasure hunting.

Huaso’s been getting low on materials, and while he wouldn’t hesitate to ask his patrons to bring the ones they need specifically for their commission, it was always fun to go out, explore, and get some dirt under his claws.

Unlike most dragons, he’s never been interested in treasure that wouldn’t serve his needs. What’s the point of getting a gem? To make it sit there and look pretty? Or do what some dragons do and embed it into his scales?

He’s heard that was a painful process, why would anyone ever do that?

Writing a note to leave on the smithy’s door, he hears a scuttering sound to his right. Huaso finishes up the note and lets the ink dry, turning to the scuttering.

It’s his little scavenger friend, Scrounge! Ever since settling down, Huaso would see him every few days, and he stopped questioning how he traveled so fast years ago. Huaso rolls his shoulders and tucks his wings in tightly, smiling at Scrounge. The scavenger takes the sign well, and starts running behind many of Huaso’s tools and furniture.

Huaso gives him a minute to hide, then starts prowling the room. He looks under tables, anvils, rugs, between the few scrolls he has, and any cushions lying around.

Eventually, he’s found hidden behind a locket Huaso’s still working on. Scrounge runs into the open and Huaso chases him around, leaping to get closer, but preparing his leaps longer to let him get farther. Once he tires of the game, Huaso waits for him to loop around on his own, and scoops him up gently into his claws. “Gotcha!”

“Fuck!”

That gets a chuckle out of him. “Now don’t go repeatin’ mah words, little scavenger! Ah’m sure dragons won’t appreciate a little guy like ya speakin’ Dragon, much less if yer sayin’ that!”

“Shit!”

“That’s just as bad, now git, ah’m going treasure hunting!”

However, that just means he’ll see his little friend again very soon, as soon as he drops a gem or shiny piece of treasure, it’ll get snatched by anyone nearby, with Scrounge being the most prepared. There’s a chance he really does understand Dragon.

It doesn’t bother Huaso that he does this. He just sometimes worries that the scavenger will take the wrong thing from the wrong dragon, Scrounge isn’t his only fan when he goes hunting after all.

Huaso leaves the note on his door and swims up the massive river of Possibility. The little town has grown into quite the city, having the most diverse inhabitants. So it also has the most diverse architecture, gardens, and foods anyone could ever see. If you ever wanted to learn more about the other tribes, you have two places to go to. The Jade Mountain Academy just south from here, or Possibility.

The river leads all the way north into the ocean, spilling Huaso into tougher currents, but he’s gotten used to them. He climbs out of the water and flies to a small uncharted island, practicing some digging there to see if he finds anything.

Wingbeats are heard just a few steps away, time to dive- Oh, a washed up pearl! He leaves that behind for the dragons to (Hopefully not) fight over, and hides in the ocean, catching a current to swim further out and watch them from afar.

2 Icewings, 1 Sandwing, 4 Skywings, 2 Seawings. He’s become pretty popular lately.

The Skywings get there first, being the fastest. They start to argue over who would get it, with the Sandwing diving in quickly to just nab it from them, taking a careful dive into the ocean to outspeed the Skywings that way. The Seawings were about to follow after him, but Huaso splashed his wings loud enough to get their attention. Now that it was clear that he was in that area, they back up, hoping the dumb Sandwing will realize his mistake.

Actually, the Sandwing swims right up to Huaso, his familiar black diamond covered neck waving in the water. He resurfaces, and shows Huaso the pearl “Hey, I won!”

“Good job, Eddie… Although it wasn’t technically a race, ah don’t care who gits t’ treasure.”

“Oh, huh…”

“Yeah… Wait, what’s on yer wrist?”

Huaso takes Eddie’s wrist into his talons. He’s wearing a pale red bracelet that’s holding Huaso’s glowscale. Actually, Huaso compares his own normal scales to the color and it’s nearly the exact same shade.

“Oh, yeah, I was coming over to show you as a surprise! But your letter said you were heading up the river to treasure hunt so here I am!”

The Icewings finally made a move, dragging Eddie under the water and yanking the pearl out of his claws. One dashes off and the over follows, not before tossing Eddie further under the water as best he can.

Huaso pulls Eddie back to the surface. “Ya okay?” But he can’t answer, he’s coughing out gross salt water. After that’s over, he answers “Yup!”

“Clearly not, this sounds bad but ah hope that coughing was from drowning, not you gittin’ sick.”

“Nope, definitely from drowning, can we go to the beach, now?”

Huaso has Eddie put a wing over his back and an arm around his neck, swimming him back to the small beach of the island while everyone left to chase after the Icewings. Eddie rolls in the sand, spraying the grains everywhere, including Huaso’s still wet chest and face.

He starts spitting out sand that landed in his mouth, then splashes right back by jumping into the ocean. Eddie’s surprised by the wave that hit him. “Hey!!”

“That’s what ya git! Ah won’t be getting t’ sand out of mah scales fer  _ days _ now!”

“Well sorry for enjoying nice soft warm sand after some Ice fuckers tried to drown me!”

“Language!”

Eddie chuckles, then looks up at the sky where the two Icewings are still flying back to town. “Fuckin’ theives, it was just a damn pearl.” He stands and starts digging around “How’d you even find it here?”

“Well, fer one, you’re lookin’ in t’ wrong spot.” Huaso trots over and digs his claws into the sand, pulling out another, larger pearl. Eddie makes a grab for it but gets tackled by a Seawing that stayed behind, the dragon’s large tail hits him across the chest and Eddie flies backwards. The Seawing quickly grabs the pearl, and dives into a part of the water that Huaso has yet to visit, getting away.

“THAT FUCKIN’ STUPID SON OF A BITCH-” He tosses himself back up and flies after him, swearing the entire time. Normally, Huaso wouldn’t tolerate this, he’s grown up around folks that always remind him of dragonets, so it’s always been weird to hear someone swear outside of occasional jokes.

Whenever someone brings up a string of swears like Eddie is, it makes Huaso think they’re _pretty_ _angry_ , and he needs to calm them down before bad things happen.

Yet for some reason, Eddie saying them is endearing, probably because he uses it in nearly every sentence.

While Huaso goes on a wild goose chase of a thought, he watches the fleeing dragons carefully, trying to keep track of their colors in the sky since they’re too far to echolocate. A long blonde tail is raised above the dark green’s head and- EDDIE DID YOU JUST STAB A DRAGON?

The Seawing plummets, and while Huaso knows that spreading his disease in an open wound would probably make things worse, he has to at least  _ try _ to keep him alive. He swims forward, trying to find any current that would lead him to the other dragon. Eddie splashes down in front of him and gestures for Huaso to rise to the surface. He reluctantly does, but only to yell and continue swimming.

“WHY T’ HELL DID YA MURDER SOMEONE FER A SMALL PEARL?!”

“He’s not dead! Three moons, Huaso, he’s just passed out! He can breathe underwater unconscious, right?”

“YA CAN’T JUST ASSUME T’ BEST!”

Eddie grabs his tail and pulls him out of the water, using only his front talons to hold Huaso over the water. “What t-”

“He’s not dead, Huaso, I can’t even kill anyone with my tail, I’m weird. Besides, the asshole deserved it! He tried knocking  _ me _ out! And took the fuckin’ pearl! You actually GAVE me the pearl and he fucking stole it!”

Huaso’s currently freaking out about hanging by his tail via 2 paws. Something tells him to swing about to hopefully fall back into the water, and he starts doing exactly that. Eddie loses his grip and Huaso’s free. He looks back up at Eddie.

“What in t’ world?”

“Oh, yeah, I got super dragon strength or something!”

“Alright, yer actually terrifying now. Are ya  _ positive _ he’s gonna be alright?”

“Do Seawings automatically switch from lungs to gills in their sleep to survive?”

“Ah wouldn’t know that, ah’ve been banished from Seawing territory since ah was 1.”

“Then I’m just going to assume yes.”

“What did I just say?!” Huaso glares at Eddie as best he can through the goggles, although an additional hiss seems to get his point across just as well. Eddie swoops down and picks Huaso up by putting his arms under the hybrid’s, careful not to get his wing caught in the water. Now that Huaso’s being carried with more support, Eddie’s confident enough to fly towards the sleeping Seawing.

Just as Eddie said, it looks like he’s breathing perfectly fine down there, the puncture in his ear has already healed over, and as a bonus, Huaso doesn’t have to swim in the same water while he watches carefully through his goggles. The image isn’t clear through a soundproof barrier and two layers of liquid, but there’s still enough evidence that the Seawing will be okay.

However, instead of putting Huaso at a safe distance and dropping him in the water, Eddie starts flying back to Possibility. The confused hybrid starts twisting his head to look back at the ocean, just  _ knowing _ how many materials he’s leaving behind, how many hidden caches full of high quality metal are just sitting there, waiting to be dug up.

He starts mumbling complaints and spreading his wings to catch the air, but Eddie quickly readjusts so he’s holding Huaso’s wings against his body, no use fighting against his strength. The flight back, with a Sandwing carrying a fully grown dragon, would take  _ much _ longer than just Huaso swimming solo. Since he apparently has no say in where he goes, he might as well get some answers out of Eddie.

“Ah still had t’ hunt, y’know? How do ya expect me to git t’ proper assets fer mah builds?”

“You can try again tomorrow! I can escort you back to the same spot and make sure no one is following to cause you trouble!”

“You mean cause  _ you _ trouble, ah already said ah don’t care who gits the treasure  _ AH _ discard. And ah don’t need escorting!”

“Of course not, but if you’re sticking with me, dragons might confuse you for a Skywing from a distance, so you’ll be alone to dig up whatever you want while I keep watch! Everyone’s just too antsy today after that huge fight, so it’s better to wait anyway, wouldn’t it be harder to dig when there’s 10 dragons constantly on your ass to take whatever you find?”

Huaso could easily argue with Eddie’s logic, but something about the way he talks stops Huaso from pointing out the flaws. It’s almost like he’s concerned about what the dragons will do to him? For a heartbeat, Huaso’s a bit grumpy at the fact that Eddie doesn’t quite trust him to do his own job that  _ he _ made and has been doing since he was a dragonet, but then the feeling passes as some curious thoughts show up.

They’ve met once before, right? It was a sort of weird meeting, and somehow, Eddie charmed Huaso into giving him a glowscale, the “Why” indicator from his face. (He thought this was a bit hilarious when he remembered what scale it was, and would flash it at random points, expecting Eddie to be doing something idiotic.) Yet, despite barely knowing each other, Eddie was worried.

Maybe it’s part of his history, or he’s just naturally caring to strangers… As long as they aren’t after his treasure, that is.

Speaking of history, is there a reason why Eddie’s venom wouldn’t instantly make that Seawing braindead with the injection basically being right on his brain? Instead, he just passes out and rests peacefully on the ocean floor.

The town is close. It’s tall winding towers and stone walkways are a comforting and familiar sight for Huaso. It hasn’t been entirely cleaned from the sandstorm 2 weeks ago, but as traffic increases, the sand gets stuck to the travenling dragons and gets flown back into the desert, which is clean enough for him.

The sound of wingbeats gets louder, not as loud as the Sandwing’s that are right next to Huaso’s ears, but there’s definitely more of them getting closer. There’s probably just a couple of dragonet Skywings flying in the open air today, if Huaso wasn’t so sick, he would join them. Maybe he might risk it just to spread his wings after Eddie’s tight grip on them.

Eddie starts to speed up dangerously, almost losing his grip on Huaso. Instinctively, Huaso tries to spread his wings to catch an updraft to stop the fall, but only makes Eddie fumble around and nearly dig his claws in to keep him still. The wingbeats are a bit louder now.

They take a sharp dive to Huaso’s smithy- Nope, he flies through the streets for some reason, completely missing their destination.

“Hey, you uh-”

“I know.”

He continues until he reaches the center, where it’s packed with dragons. He swoops up and continues onward. After a heartbeat, Eddie chuckles, but stops midway and says “Oh” then starts flying out of the city.

“Seriously, what’s goin’ on?!”

“Hold on for a bit.”

They’re officially in the desert now. Eddie starts making confusing swerves and turns. Suddenly, Huaso’s claws are in the sand, unpleasantly. Eddie doesn’t let him go, instead he puts all of his weight on Huaso to make him lay down, then uses his tail to tuck the other’s under him. His wings are still spread out, and Huaso can’t move with the heavy dragon on top of him. He opens his mouth to complain, but it’s held shut.

Is this some kind of hostage situation? Did Huaso get duped, and now Eddie’s going to sell him to someone like Burn? It’s surprising how much of that sounded like a joke in Huaso’s head, as if he truly believed Eddie would never do that, but he had no reason to actually trust him with anything.

Soon, at least 2 more wingbeats get louder, no longer drowned out by Eddie’s flying. They get closer, closer, right above them, then further and further away. Once he can’t hear them anymore, Eddie slowly stands, and Huaso wacks his side with as much force in his tail as possible, then crawls out as fast as he can.

“Okay, answers. NOW. THE FUCK WAS THAT?!”

“Owwwowowowow I forgot you had a Seawing tail oooooooh three moons I think that’s going to bruise for a long time-”

“EDDIE.”

“Fine fine fine! Two of the Skywings stayed behind and started following us, I wasn’t completely sure at first, but then it became clear that their target was us, or you, or maybe even me if they think I still had the pearl… Which I do, but not the same one so they were probably watching me-”

“And this caused ya t’ drag me around, push me in t’ sand, lay on mah back, crush mah wings, fly me RIGHT BY mah home, and hold mah snout shut?!”

“I panicked! Instincts told me to hide in the sand, so I did! I hid you under me! Sorry about that.”

Huaso huffs out a tiny cloud of smoke, he didn’t lack fire completely, but he didn’t have enough to do much more than that. If Eddie knew him better, he would be terrified by that tiny black cloud. Eddie gets a quick smack to the face by a paw with not enough talons, and watches in confusion as Huaso turns tail and starts walking back to town, wings too cramped to start flying this second.

“Why are you mad?! I protected you, you know!”

“AH DON’T NEED PROTECTIN’ YA FUCKING IDIOT.” The sand gets stuck between Huaso’s webs, still wet from swimming. While Huaso was able to get used to the mud of the Mud kingdom, even finding it as soothing as submerging in water after a couple of years. Sand was something he would  _ never _ come to like. Yet, of course, it’s the one place the Sandwing felt he could hide well enough.

Said Sandwing is now trotting beside him, trying to read his face while blabbering on. “Listen, I was trained to hide like that whenever I get chased by enemies! It’s an effective way to make them lose track in an unfamiliar territory, as we rarely fought against other Sandwings, and they wouldn’t be able to follow you back to your fellow soldiers! I’m sorry I’ve caused you a slight inconvenience, but fear and instinct together is a heck of a thing, I’m sure you understand, since you’ve had to live through the war, too! Having to battle for a Queen you don’t care about-”

“Actually, ah’ve never been in battle. At least, nothin’ more than play fighting with Mudwings, an’ trying t’ keep an angry Rainwing away.” Huaso continues on, trying to speed up to make it to town quicker. Eddie halts for a second, then leaps forward to catch up.

“What?! But your face-”

“That was t’ Rainwing, she’s a lot nicer when she decides t’ actually hold herself back on the venom.”

“But you can expertly build armor and weapons? You had to be involved somehow, and when you’re involved, you have to prepare for any kind of invasion or-”

“Ah was fer a few months, but got out after ah got Burn sick. Ah learn quick, also managed t’ build a few things fer my brothers when they visited t’ rainforest.”

“I- You have brothers? And lived with the Rainwings after one tried to  _ kill _ you?”

“If yer gonna ask fer mah life story, meet me at the smithy. Later. Right now, ah don’t wanna be ‘round ya.”

“... Alright… Sorry… See you later.” With that, he flies off, leaving Huaso alone to travel the desert until his wings feel ready to carry his weight again.

Actually, there’s some pieces of metal hidden in that dune over there…

  
  
  


As promised, Eddie met him during sundown. It was taking so long, that Huaso was a bit worried that he scared him off for good, the one Sandwing he can interact with without getting him sick. Also as promised, Eddie literally asked for Huaso’s life story, probably curious about how knowledgeable he was about other tribes.

Of course, Huaso wouldn’t actually tell him the whole thing. He can’t just tell Eddie he’s an animus dragon after the continent was nearly destroyed by an insane animus who just busted a mountain open and became king of all Nightwings in a single week. He left enough details out to ensure that Eddie doesn’t pick up on any weirdly placed holes and ask questions.

When he finished, the sun had fully set and the desert was filled with a spine chilling cold. Of course, Eddie used this as an excuse to stay, commenting on his naturally warm scales and Huaso’s very empty nest.

“Do ya know how pissed ah was at ya today?”

“Well, yeah, you made that pretty clear when you fuckin’ shouted everything. But come on, you’re not just gonna throw me out, right? It’s cold and dark, and I don’t have any night vision!”

Huaso wasn’t sure if that’s true, but he can’t exactly prove him wrong at the moment, and history shows that he’s still pretty clueless in the dark. With a defeated sigh, Huaso leaps into his nest, and shuffles to the far end to give Eddie room. Eddie expectedly hops in, flopping onto his side while Huaso curls into a tiny ball.

“... Ya purposefully waited ‘till sundown to visit, did ya?”

“Maybe.”

“Yer clever in  _ all _ t’ wrong ways, idiot.”

“I know.”

Huaso turns his back to Eddie, using his wings as a blanket for his ears and neck, and trying not to get smushed against the wall. Now that he’s looking at it longer than usual, he starts thinking of installing some kind of window. Do the moons shine on this side of the house? Is there anything blocking the view here?

Suddenly there’s a wave of warmth washing over him, along with an arm wrapping around his neck. Huaso sighs and turns his head to look at Eddie. “Aren’t ya tired of holding me after that flight?” But Eddie’s already asleep, just snoring softly as he inches closer and buries his face in Huaso’s neck, including the Skywing spikes. Good thing they’re pretty flexible thanks to his Seawing side.

While Huaso’s still looking at him, he can make out more details of his face now that he’s not constantly on the move. He didn’t even notice Eddie’s left horn had been broken off, as well as the face spike most Sandwings have, replaced with a large scar that almost reaches his mouth. His shoulders are incredibly scarred as well, claw marks digging into them and ruining his scales.

It’s weird to Huaso, how involved in the war Eddie was. Getting scared by two greedy Skywings hoping for a little bit of treasure and using his training to hide, his odd concern for Huaso… The only experience of battles Huaso’s ever had was seeing the aftermath of a Mudwing/Icewing fight.

Well, now he’s got himself upset, it’s probably good that he never joined his “Sibs” in battling if he managed to keep up his disguise, it was only a matter of time before Swamp got drafted, and if Huaso was there, he would volunteer to keep him safe by battling with him, what would have he been like if he was  _ actually there _ to see Swamp get killed?

Is that what Eddie had to go through?

Is that why he was so scared? Feeling like the only thing he could do to keep Huaso safe was to hide and use himself as a shield?

Maybe the Rainwing logic was still stuck to him, of  _ course _ that kind of life would make Eddie worried about everything, of course he would try and put Huaso’s safety above his comfort. Feeling a bit guilty, Huaso frowns and twists to face Eddie, curling a bit more to tuck his head under the other’s chin.

He should probably apologize when they wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> boy oh boy I hope you read Huaso's backstory, otherwise this is very confusing!
> 
> The reason everything is going to have this weird order is cuz I just wrote whatever I wanted, and that ended up being the way you're supposed to read it. Anyone who actually read my stuff before didn't have this problem cuz I would send them it when I was STILL WRITING IT. Unfortunately, there's 8 more chapters of this arc to go through with at least 5 winglets inbetween a few. Maybe for the winglets, I'll say when they take place in the timeline? Or should I do that on here so you know if you're missing something?? Dunno, if anyone's gonna give feedback, say what you'd prefer or something????


	3. Fuck it, WoF AU (3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zacharie's PoV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reading both Huaso's and Eddie's backstory is highly recommended, as Zacharie's introduction is in Ed's, and there's some important details that you can get from Hua's. Because my only reader was sent whatever I was writing in the order I was writing them in, she didn't have to worry about jumping back and forth between works... But now y'all have to.
> 
> sorry.

Those two dragons were at it again.

Ever since the blacksmith decided to move to Possibility a few years back, Zacharie’s travel time for treasure has become  _ incredibly _ short. While the odd looking dragon would still fly or swim places, Zach just latches onto a pouch or his sail. (Which apparently had no feeling in them, otherwise he wouldn’t have been unnoticed during those flights.)

But just a few weeks ago, Zacharie’s old friend, Eddie, started to visit. Zach was good at speaking dragon, as long as he stayed in the desert. Turns out, he doesn’t know how to decipher different accents, which makes Possibility one of the most confusing towns to be in. He’s not going to speak Dragon to the strangers walking by, who’ll most definitely eat him, so he has to rely on the Sandwing dialect to understand what the heck’s going on in the world.

So with Eddie there, Zach could understand a  _ little bit _ of what the blacksmith was saying, as well as finally get a name! Or so he thought.

It sounded like a human word… Huaso? That’s not any kind of dragon name, why would he have the growly-sounding human word as a name, anyway? The closest thing that made sense was Rider, so the blacksmith is now named Rider.

Eddie usually stays overnight. Right now, the two are cuddling in the same nest, even though Rider set up another one a couple of days ago for him. Eddie said something about needing heat to sleep well, although Zacharie knows from experience that Rider’s scales are as cold as the desert night.

Might as well take whatever Rider doesn’t need while they’re asleep!

A ruby here, some diamonds there, ooooh is that a failed replica of the Eye of Onyx? No way Zach’s ever going to see  _ that _ war-ending necklace in person!

There’s some shuffling from their nest, which is so high up that dragons have to  _ jump _ into it, seriously why would he bother carving into his own wall for a nest that high, what if he’s too tired? More shuffling. Probably a bad dream. The other’s going to wake up and comfort him and Zach will either hear “There there” in Dragon, or “Rggh Rggh” in Dragon- Suddenly, 14 claws hit the stone floor. Most dragons have 16 claws, 4 on each foot.

He happens to know that Rider is weird and only has 6 front claws.

Rider picks Zacharie up by his backpack, tapping his wings against the ground for noise, as he always does in the dark. Although, with no windows to emit light, he has to lift his goggles to look at Zacharie anyway. The smell is  _ horrible  _ and Rider instantly starts crying blood, he guesses that explains the sudden fashion change when he entered the rainforest.

“Grrrawl rr… Brrark!”

“Buddy, did you just  _ bark _ at me?” Said in Human, of course, he can’t just let every dragon know he can  _ speak _ their language, especially if he can’t actually understand this one to hold a conversation.

Rider either says something under his breath, or quietly growls. It’s hard to tell, Mudwings growl a lot, which would be surprising if Zacharie didn’t know he was raised by them from his early years of adventuring. The dragon looks around and grabs a random pile of warped and burnt metal, handing it to the human. Rider drops him gently, huffs, then starts trotting back to his nest.

Zacharie decides to watch Rider, maybe he’ll wake up Eddie and he can hear some information about him? Rider puts his front paws on the edge of the nest, using his snout to nudge Eddie, flapping his wings a bit when he refuses to wake up. After some persistence, the Sandwing decides to roll over and open his eyes.

“Rrgh-Argh-Sss-Oh?” There’s the name again, the one that sounds awfully like a human word… “What’re you doing up?”

“Grrh orrahg.” Rider yawns and starts climbing into the nest, continuously nudging Eddie so he has room again. “Sss growl rrk.”

“Oh, yeah I get it, they can be annoying sometimes… I have a friend who keeps one as a pet, and he likes to get into everything.”

“Ssllk.”

“Fine fine, c’mere.”

Rider lays next to Eddie, and the Sandwing puts a wing over him. It was incredibly cute, he’ll have to tell Sugar about it once she picks him up! (He’s tried crossing the desert himself with just a few horses to pull his treasure once, but Sugar found him while out flying. She laughed at him.)

Zach looks down at the scraps Rider gave him. What was he going to do with warped metal? Some of this was just straight up stone.

Oh well, as long as Rider didn’t wake up again, he was free to take more of the scraps that were actually useful to him.

Which just means that he can either give them to Sugar, or impress any humans he passes by.

With a full backpack, pockets, and pouches, it was time for Zacharie to head to one of Possibility’s towers and wait for Sugar… Ooooor he could wake up Eddie and get a  _ much _ quicker ride. He wouldn’t have to wait out in the cold, either! And with Possibility growing more and more, it’s starting to get too dangerous for him to wait.

After a long hour of trying to climb the giant ledge, he slowly crawls over Rider’s snout, and taps on Eddie’s. He wakes up with a slight start, blinking a bit at Zach, then yawns.

“Zach, the fuck…?”

“I need a ride back to the Scorpion Den, I’m not going to wait in the open for the entire night, and I’m not going to just sit here in a dusty smithy watching you get all cuddly with Rider, I see enough of that when you’re “hanging out” with Sugar.”

Eddie grimaces with a hint of guilt, but he also flashes his sharp teeth at Zacharie, a  _ very _ empty threat. He glances at Rider, then carefully removes his wing and crawls over him to hop out of the nest. Zach follows, holding Eddie’s back leg to get down faster. That was a bad choice. The force shocked his body for a bit, but it’s better than falling and breaking his own legs.

“Wait, you called Rrgh-Argh-Sss-Oh Rider, shouldn’t you be asking  _ him _ if you know him?”

“I don’t, really. I’ve been watching him since he was a dragonet since he discards treasure-”

“So that’s where that quartz went…”

“But he grew up with Mudwings, and I’ve never been able to pick up on their dialect… I don’t have a clue as to what his actual name is, it sounds like “Huaso” but that’s a human word, so it doesn’t make sense…”

“Say that again?”

“Huaso?”

“Deeper, more growls, and a hiss for the… What do you call it? Ess?”

“Huuuu arg sss oh?”

“That’s almost exactly his actual name… There’s no way he has a human name.”

“It’s not a name, it’s a word, skilled horseman. Dragons can’t exactly ride horses?”

Eddie and Zacharie walk out of the smithy. Zach doesn’t miss Ed’s longing eyes as he closes the door behind him. The human’s put onto his shoulder and Zach keeps a tight grip on his frill. They take off.

“You said he grew up with Mudwings?”

“When I turned 15, I decided to travel the continent and get out of the town, thankfully I left before the Sandwings burned it down to avenge Queen Oasis’s death. I discovered Rider during one of his trips through the Human’s seaport, and followed him around once he decided to throw away important treasure! Turns out, he’s been living with Mudwings.”

“Do you know how long?”

“5 years since I’ve discovered him, then he went to the rainforest for 11, so I had Sugar bring me there to stay every couple of months, then go back to the Scorpion Den to practice my Dragon. Turns out, it’s hard to understand different dialects when every tribe was at war with each other.”

This trip is taking longer than expected, so either Eddie’s slowing down to hear more of Huaso’s backstory, or he’s nervous about flying too fast and risking Zach’s death. Zacharie doesn’t remember the last time Eddie let him fly on his back, maybe when Fred forced him to risk it.

“That explains the accent, I thought it was familiar, but I never would have thought he lived with Mudwings long enough to actually keep it that long…”

“Well, of course  _ you _ wouldn’t have put two and two together!”

Eddie huffs out some smoke, turning his head to give Zach a death glare.

“So, you’ve been following him for at least 16 years, and you don’t even know how to pronounce his name, or what his name actually is?”

“Nope! And hey, you can’t speak Human, either! It’s  _ really _ fucking hard to learn a language made from a completely different animal with different styled faces, mouths, vocal cords-”

“Alright alright, I get it… What’d he do next?”

“Well, at some point, he left the rainforest. I couldn’t find him for  _ months. _ Actually, it might have been a whole year, the season changes aren’t that obvious in the desert and rainforest. I just gave up and stayed in the desert, but found him setting up shop in a rundown building in Possibility. 5 years later, the war ends, he gets a bunch of luggage from Rainwings, and builds the smithy you were snuggling him in!”

“Stay on track, or a little “accident” may happen between you and Freddie!”

“As if you’re any better.”

They reach the Scorpion Den, still adjusting after Vulture’s short takeover and humiliating defeat from his own grandchild. Zach didn’t really care about the politics of the den, but it’s hard to ignore the giant old dragon with hundreds of dragon faces tattooed on his body, apparently ones he killed.

If he’s remembering correctly, Fred mentioned something about Vulture killing his mother and Ted’s father… Good thing Eddie can’t find him, and hopefully Vulture didn’t bother getting a Mudwing’s face on his body.

Zacharie slides down Eddie’s wing, not taking the spiky trip down his front legs or the spikes  _ and _ scorpion barb on the end of his tail. He simply waves goodbye, and Eddie takes off again, heading back to Possibility. Zach gives a passing thought about his brothers possibly missing him, but then remembers that they probably know or just don’t give a shit.

Time to tell Sugar he’s home early, and get some good rest.

  
  
  


He didn’t expect to come back to a pitiful dragon crying his eyes out, at least more than usual.

Huaso, as Zacharie has accepted calling him, left a note on his front door saying that he was treasure hunting in the ocean. Only Seawings would be able to follow him, but for some reason they avoided him like the plague. It’s not like Zach himself could follow, so he opted to steal some unused gems Huaso wouldn’t miss.

But the note was a lie, used to keep everyone away. Huaso was right there, in his nest, goggles shoved to his forehead, crying at some kind of scroll. The dragon occasionally broke out into a string of choked out sentences, but it was even harder to understand him than it was before.

The crying made Zach uncomfortable, but curiosity got the best of him, so he started climbing towards the nest. Without treasure weighing him down, and with a good idea of what ledges were the easiest to reach for and hold onto, it only took about 10 minutes to climb this time.

Zacharie carefully walks closer to Huaso, trying to look over his shoulder to see the scroll. It was a hand drawn- or claw drawn- image, very detailed. A Mudwing, with a grin on his face, deep browns and oranges covered his entire body. There was a note in the bottom left corner.

“Huaso,

I think this is my magnum opus, but I know you’re the only one who deserves to see it, the only surviving sib I have… It’s weird, knowing that he was the first to go of our pack, being the Bigwings and all. When I sang on Brightest Night, I was thinking of him, but then I saw you. I knew you were heading to the Skywing Kingdom, directly west, right over the battlefield. I know you would have gotten curious and explored a bit. I know you saw him.

I want this to be a way for you to properly say goodbye, I know you’ve never had the chance to for anyone you love. Do whatever you want with his image, as long as you’ve found the peace I have after all this time.

You’ll always be our sib.

-Heron.”

With how much Huaso shifted and wiped his eyes, only for more blood and tears to spill out, it was hard to read the full message, but once Zach did… He grabs Huaso’s attention.

“Huaso.” He says in Human.

The dragon flinches, and turns to look right at him. It worked.

Zacharie knows he won’t understand if he keeps speaking in Human, but speaking Dragon now would do nothing other than scare him.

“I… Know how you feel… When I went back to Valor to visit my family, the entire town was burned down. I found their remains, buried under broken pieces of stone pillars. I know that most of the town had evacuated, legends of “The Dragonslayer” were all over the continent, but I couldn’t find them, no matter how hard I looked. I wanted to give them pieces of the outside world, things that would make them rich for the rest of their lives… But the night I left, it was in secret… There’s a chance that they died, thinking I abandoned them.”

He pats Huaso’s front paw, his claws were so sharp, but he was handling the drawing with extreme care, not even bending the scroll. Zacharie hoped that his empathy would get across by his tone, but got a bit scared when Huaso reached for him suddenly.

But then he pulled the human to his chest, making sure he didn’t push down the sail there. Huaso carefully puts the scroll away and lays there, still holding Zach. Looks like his little stunt worked. Huaso actually understood him through the language barrier.

While he wasn’t too keen on being the dragon’s comfort doll, he could let it slide for maybe an hour or two. Huaso puts his goggles back on once he looks around and sees the mess he made, but doesn’t move to clean it. Hopefully he will later, otherwise the nest will get uncomfortable and crusty with blood.

“I want to understand you, you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear what happened to you, why you’ve been with so many tribes, why you look so different from anything I’ve ever seen… It’s like reading an interesting book that doesn’t answer your questions… Only you’re a real person, and I want to be your friend, and I want to learn from you…”

The dragon just yawns and loosens his grip on Zach.

“Maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to tell you what I think, and find a way to lead you to Sugar, she could translate for me.”

The paw disappears, and Zacharie is free to leave if he wants.

“Who knows, maybe we could start the first “Dragon-Human” town, that would be helpful for everyone, no one has to die in a town-wide fire by a bunch of vengeful dragons, humans won’t have to slay your queens for their own greed…”

Huaso is snoring softly, having replaced Zacharie with the scroll of the Mudwing. Looks like it’s time to wait for Sugar to pick him up again, he’s too guilty to take any treasure, even if he won't use it.

It probably wouldn’t hurt to wait here and keep a close eye on his new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holiday's, y'all! This is thankfully one of the shorter chapters so I don't have to spend as much time proof reading and editing, so I can go back to bed!
> 
> This chapter is very self indulgent!


	4. Fuck it, WOF AU (4)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strawberry's PoV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since Strawberry is a character from Huaso's backstory, it's probably best to read that first

Today is finally the day!

His best friend Huaso was going to visit! It's the middle of the coldest month, which means he’s going to stay for a week! Or maybe more! Most likely, since he hasn’t been here since the Nightwings moved in.

9 months ago, a few Rainwings started disappearing, including one of their queens. Once the word got out, Strawberry felt a bit sad that he didn’t even notice, but no one keeps track of anyone. Maybe if Cherry was one of them, he would have noticed? Or if the dragonnappers decided to eat his lovely pet sloth!

On second thought, Cherry wouldn’t let herself be caught, she’s even become queen Glory’s new guard! Well, aside from the Nightwing who constantly follows her, along with 10 other Rainwings who are obsessed with keeping her safe. As they should! She’s the best queen they’ve ever had, she freed the missing Rainwings from the Nightwings, and was still kind enough to let them live in the rainforest after  _ their _ queen died and their home was lost.

Nightwings were so interesting, despite all of their muscle, it was clear that they were still unhealthy and thin in the stomach. While Huaso was  _ definitely  _ unhealthy, he still kept a good weight, considering there wasn’t anyone else to fight over his source of food when he lived here.

And they were constantly taking such deep breaths of air, coughing smoke out of their nose! Glory told them about the dangers of fire, but while her friend, Starflight, was there, he said that the smoke wasn’t from the Nightwing’s fire but instead from living on a volcano their whole lives!

Strawberry didn’t know what a volcano was, but based on the stories the trapped Rainwings told him, he never wanted to go there.

He decided now was a good time to head over to Huaso’s old hut, hopefully a Nightwing didn’t take it over thinking it was abandoned! Well, it was, but it’s still used sometimes! He’s told Glory to make sure the hut stays isolated while the Nightwings expand their new home a bit. Hopefully, whatever Rainwing the Nightwing got stuck with, warned them, too!

During his solo race there, his ears perk up to the sound of a new voice. It has the same accent Qibli had when he visited two months ago with Moon and Kinkajou, along with a prince Icewing looking for another Icewing. But there’s another voice…

“Ah told ya, ya didn’t need t’ follow along, ah have a couple of immune friends here, ah’m not gonna git lonely.”

It’s Huaso!!! What a coincidence that he’s coming over to stay the day Strawberry checks his hut! Although he checks every day when winter starts… It’s good exercise after Suntime!

“You said you haven’t been here since Glory became queen and the Nightwings invaded?”

“It ain’t invasion if they were invited t’ stay…”

“Well, they were intending to!”

“Ya git too much Nightwing hate from Queen Thorn, ironic considerin’ her kid.”

“Stonemover’s an exception.”

Not waiting a second longer, Strawberry camouflages and starts gliding to Huaso, hoping to tackle him in a hug. As long as he stays by Huaso for a while, he’ll keep his own immune system strong! Strong enough to wait another year for another visit.

He spots the colorful hybrid walking alongside a Sandwing, although the way he carries himself reminds Strawberry of Huaso’s Mudwing siblings who used to visit…

“You sure yer brothers are fine with ya being on t’ opposite side of t’ continent fer a week?”

“They’ve been fine with me gone for months on end when I was Burn’s soldier.”

“...”

“.... It’s not like I-”

“Ah know, just thinking.”

Huaso’s upset! Why did the Sandwing upset him? Maybe now’s a good time to surprise him with the tackle hug! He carefully brushes some leaves away, letting his wingtips turn green to match the space they used to be in. Then, with a powerful kick, he knocks Huaso onto his back. The Sandwing swiftly turns after a shriek, and starts stabbing the space on top of Huaso with his tail!

Uh oh, Strawberry’s the space on top of Huaso.

He turns into his usual pink, stopping the tail stab with his wing. What did Tsunami say to do next once he’s got a hold of a dragon’s weapon? Was it to turn it against them? Fling it up? Keep it still? Hey his wing’s numb now.

“GET YOUR CLAWS OFF MY-”

“Eddie, calm down! Ah know him! Heya, Straw…”

“Hi! I don’t think I can glide back home!”

Huaso gives Eddie a glare, although it looks like Eddie’s trying really hard to read his expression through the goggles. Strawberry’s helped back to his feet, and Huaso pulls himself back up before anyone else can.

Despite the heavy wing dragging on the forest floor, Strawberry still finds the energy to bounce around Huaso as they walk to his hut together. Eddie decides to continue watching Strawberry with extremely wide eyes, as if he’s never seen a Rainwing before.

Maybe he hasn’t actually- well, no, he had to have been there when Queen Glory was in the arena with those other Sandwing queens!  _ Everyone _ was there! He should have also seen some in the crowd with their assigned Nightwings!

“Huaso, with how grumpy and tired and angry you are… I would have never thought you made friends with a ball of sunshine…”

“Ah’m  _ yer _ friend too, aint I?” Something about that made Eddie flinch. Curious, but he’s not going to pry into the Sandwing after getting stung once.

“I’d argue that I’m just as grumpy and angry.”

“Well ya haven’t shown it ‘side from swearing.”

This is probably the most talkative Strawberry’s ever seen him with another dragon, other than with Cherry and him. Rainwings were friendly enough to visit him and try to get him to open up, even if they knew they were going to get sick, but he would just shy away and hide for a whole day afterwards! Actually, why isn’t the Sandwing getting sick? Isn’t that why he had to escape to the rainforest in the first place? He got a Sandwing sick?

The group reaches the hut, and Huaso quickly drops his belongings inside before trotting back out. Strawberry leaps to stand by him, curling his tail around the other’s. Eddie’s eyes trail from Strawberry’s face to the intertwined tails. Surprisingly, he looks at his scorpion tail and sighs, then nudges Huaso with a wing.

“Shouldn’t we go see what the Nightwings are up to? Also, it’d be useful to see if they’re another tribe you can get sick?”

Huaso huffs and shakes out his wings a bit. “Ah don’t wanna cause another plague, but it’d be good t’ know what’s goin’ on now…”

Strawberry tugs on Huaso’s tail a bit to get his attention. “The layout has changed a lot since they had to cut out a whole area to build their new town! I can show you guys around! I better check up on my Nightwing, anyway.”

The dragons look at him weirdly, then at each other. No need to get so jealous of the Rainwing, Eddie, looks like you two still have your own secret language!

“ _ Yer _ Nightwing?” Huaso kind of chuckles. “Didn’t expect ya to-”

“Oh! You guys haven’t heard! No no no no! The Nightwing I was  _ assigned _ to when they first came to the forest! They were the ones doing the dragonnappings and stuff, so Queen Glory assigned Rainwings to specific Nightwings, two of them for really angry guys!!”

Eddie curiously steps forward with his head lowered, that’s a new one. “And yet here you are…  _ Not _ with your Nightwing?”

“Well, not anymore, once they proved their loyalty after the whole “Darkstalker” fiasco- really big guy, absolutely terrifying, he seemed super nice until I put some kind of earring on, and it turns out he was manipulating our queen and was like a super evil animus- oops, no offense, Huaso!”

Huaso bares his teeth somewhat, then grits out a “Not. Around. Him.” Using his tail to point at Eddie.

Eddie seemed to have lost interest in the long winded story, opting to play with a panther he found lying in a tree. Thankfully, the panther swipes Eddie’s snout, and leaps away into the dense forest.

With Eddie apparently choosing to chase after it, Strawberry is free to ask Huaso some questions alone.

“Are you keeping your powers secret? That’s gonna be kind of hard when the whole kingdom knows…”

“Does Queen Glory know?”

“I don’t believe so, no one cares about the powers so we haven’t bothered to tell her that a Seawing Skywing hybrid happens to have animus powers who’s currently living in the desert and can spread diseases like-” He snaps his claws.

“...”

“Okay, that sounded really mean, I think Cherry’s finally getting to me after 20 years, but!! What I’m trying to say is, we think you’re a normal dragon, who’s our friend even if you couldn’t stay around us. I know you don’t think so, but a ton of Rainwings still care about you. However, we also don’t want to brag to our new Queen, and there wasn’t a reason to tell her, you know?”

“Ah get it. Right now ah’m worried ‘bout the Nightwings and Eddie… Ah don’t know what he thinks of animus dragons, and ah  _ know _ the Nightwings will fuck me up after the whole Darkstalker thing… Subject changer, ah hear him running back. Who’s yer Nightwing?”

Just as he predicted, Eddie runs back, disappointed. Looks like the panther got away.

“His name’s Lepipallor, but his nickname is Lepi. He’s  _ really _ weird so Glory assigned me to stay by him as usual even when the rest of the Nightwings didn’t need Rainwing assistants anymore! Also, you know how the Nightwings don’t have powers? Lepi has one! He can speak in your  _ brain!! _ ”

Huaso tilts his head, Eddie glances at him then does the same.

“Just follow me! I’ll show you!”

The trio slowly travel deeper into the rainforest, Eddie seems to be getting more uncomfortable as they go on, keeping his wings tighter to his body to avoid the trees closing in. Then, it opens into a wide platform made of wood, completely open to the sky.

It seems like every time Strawberry visits the Nightwing village, it gets bigger and bigger. Some Nightwings kept their gifts from Darkstalker, being able to turn them on or off whenever they like, as the enchantments are tied to accessories. A Nightwing dragonet named Mightyclaws got the gift of turning whatever he paints into reality, using it to make sturdy buildings and platforms without cutting down trees for resources. The buildings would be permanent, unlike the power itself, tied to a tiny earring.

The platforms and ledges are filled with Nightwings, going about their day, having adjusted to the lifestyle, and some dragonets being hatched into a carefree world for them to explore, without having to breathe volcanic ash every day.

While Strawberry has gotten used to the Nightwings and visiting their village, Huaso and Eddie are a bit intimidated. Initially, Eddie spreads his wings, glad to be in the open again, but bumps into a few dragonets, nearly adults, and they hiss at him. Their teeth are long and gross looking for some reason, with thin black tongues flicking wildly at Eddie. Then, they just fly away to their parents. Huaso’s ears press against his head, not accustomed to the weird hissing sounds.

Then, a beacon of light. Or really, a nearly pure white dragon starts strutting towards them. His face seems pretty young, but he’s taller than the trio, yet at the same time he seems much healthier than the adult Nightwings. He was  _ indeed _ a Nightwing, the hybrids could have sworn he was a visiting Icewing, but the face is too familiar to the giant animus Huaso saw two months before, and his neck wasn’t nearly as spiky as the Icewing heads on Burn’s pikes for Eddie.

_ Well hello there, Strawberry. I didn’t know you HAD friends other than my lovely Cherry. _

“She’s not yours, silly! She can’t even fall in love.”

_ Well, with how little she gets around, I’m positive that she just hasn’t found the right dragon. _ That made Huaso and Eddie grimace at him, looks like he was broadcasting to  _ everyone _ within hearing range. He has a tendency to match the level with his actual voice as if you were hearing it from a distance, but he still has the option to be at full volume if you’re within range, as he’s proven many times to Strawberry.

_ You still haven’t introduced me to your friends! Hopefully they’ll be less judgemental than the Nightwings around here, but less annoying than that new RainNight hybrid that showed up out of nowhere! _ Surprisingly, Huaso perks up and starts looking around for any other shiny Nightwings, or dark Rainwings.  _ Oh, have I said something to pique your interest? _

Eddie steps towards Lepi and sniffs him for some reason, muttering. “Why are you so pale? You’re not, like, the tenth Icewing Nightwing hybrid with magic powers, right?”  _ Oh, no, I’m a pure blooded Nightwing! I was simply born under a blood moon, not sure about the scales. According to the old Nightwing society’s scrolls, Nightwings born under blood moons were considered cursed and should have been killed, but I’m perfectly fine! _ “You can’t read my mind, can you?”  _ Afraid not, but from the way you’re shaking your tail and raising it over your head, you’re waiting for me to become a threat so you have an excuse to strike me iiin… The ear? Odd, you’re supposed to go for the heart, unless you’re defective?  _ “WH- HEY!”  _ Shush, shush! I would be considered defective too, idiot. Even if I could read minds, I don’t think I would find anything in there. _

“Do ya know t’ hybrid’s name?”  _ Hybrid wanting to meet another hybrid?  _ “Somewhat, yeah, ah’ve never met another hybrid as a dragonet, ah wanna see how they’re doin.”  _ His name’s Peacemaker, he lives with his mother, Hope, around the villages’ border, next to a large strawberry garden he makes for his pies. _ Strawberry giggles a bit.

“Well, before ah go, since he’s half Nightwing, ah should test something…” Huaso steps up and puts a paw on Lepi’s chest, only being able to reach maybe halfway up his neck if he reaches. “Do ya feel sick in any way? Woozy? Maybe an upset stomach?”  _ No, you’re not making me sick. Whatever you have, Nightwings are most likely immune. They didn’t get sick on the volcano, they have an immune system similar to Mudwings thanks to the dangerous conditions. The only illness was starvation. _

Huaso perks up again and smiles, glancing around at the other Nightwings around him.  _ Your claw is still on my chest. _ “Oh, sor-”  _ Not trying to make any advancements, are you? I’ll admit, without those scars on your face, you’d be quite handsome, maybe even pretty with that shiny green snout of yours. _ Huaso pulls back instantly, and Eddie starts loudly hissing at Lepi, baring his tail again.  _ Oh come on, I’m just having some fun here! It’s not like you told me you l- _

A loud slapping sound rips through the village. Lepi falls back, holding the side of his neck with his wing. Huaso hit him,  _ hard _ , with a  _ very heavy Seawing tail. _

_ Well, that wasn’t very nice. _

The older dragon spits out some smoke, then clears his throat. He steps to Eddie’s side and tucks  _ himself _ under the Sandwing’s wing.

“Ed and ah are goin’ to visit Peacemaker and Hope, make some new friends. Ed, ya mentioned ya like dragonets, right?”

“Y... Yeah... I just can’t have them…”

“Maybe ya can sign up t’ be a hatchlingsitter, Queen Thorn said there was a secret tunnel from here to t’ desert, right? Made by Stonemover? Anyway, Straw, ya do whatever ya need t’ do with Lepi, ah’ll see ya at mah house tonight.” Then he’s gone, dragging Eddie along with him.

Strawberry looks around for any fruit or saps that can treat bruises, having a little bit of experience in the hospital, but Lepi waves his wing around.  _ The laughter is embarrassing enough, I don’t need treatment from my Rainwing guard. _ Lepi shakes out his neck a little, flinching afterwards, but then holds himself like he usually does. He starts heading towards the Rainwing/Nightwing village border, although nowhere near Hope’s house or Peacemaker’s garden.

“You’re not going to bother Cherry again, are you?”  _ I’m not bothering her. I’m giving her company while she stands guard, she knows I’m not an enemy anyway. _ “But Deathbringer says that they can’t be distracted-”  _ He’s a hypocrite and you know it, you’ve seen him flirt with Glory, pretending to protect her. He’s already left her in danger multiple times because he got distracted. _

“Right…”

The Rainwing’s gotten used to Lepi’s voice in his head, able to tune out the constant yelling, telling Strawberry to leave him, but he can’t, that would be disobeying the queen’s orders! They fly up to Queen Glory’s main office, outside are two Rainwing and Nightwing guards. One of them is Cherry, as she’s usually stationed here this time of day, right after the Suntime when the Sun is in the middle of the sky during winter. Lepi does his usual strut up to her, and her stoic face slowly gets more and more angry, with her golden scales flicking between bright red and dark orange.

“Good afternoon, Lepipallor. Do you have an audience with the queen?”  _ Using full names now, huh? _ “I have to, it’s the professional thing to do, especially when a Nightwing decides he wants to distract me.”  _ On and on about the distractions, nothing’s going to happen! No one would attack the rainforest or Glory now that Queen Scarlet’s dead, and you can’t prevent giant animus dragons from taking over everyone’s brain!  _ “I can still try. Practicing is good. Why are you here?”

Strawberry lets them have a private talk, Lepi only allows him to hear Cherry’s side, but he knows what she’s going to say anyway. He opts to just hang out with the other Rainwing guard, named after the rare plant that grows in large stalks, Bean.

As Strawberry and Bean chill, a giant leaf next to them is hit with venom, deteriorating by the second. Looks like Cherry scared Lepi away, he slowly backs up. An invisible Rainwing spits on the same leaf, stopping the venom. Looks like one of Glory’s hidden guards is related to Cherry. Looks younger than her, maybe they’re a half-sibling! Then, they’re hidden again.

Well, now Lepi’s walking away, time to go. As long as Lepi intends to stay  _ inside _ the Nightwing village, Strawberry’s free to wait for Huaso and Eddie. Right now, however, Lepi decides to head to that strawberry garden.

“Lepi, what are you doing?”  _ I’m going to visit Peacemaker and Hope, of course. Perhaps they’d like some familiar faces to show up instead of two very angry strangers. _ “That… Seems about right, actually. Although, 4 huge dragons might put him off-”  _ He’ll be fine, trust me. _

The two make it to the small house with a large garden. Strawberry can hear Peacemaker’s laughter coming inside the house while his mother tends to the garden. While Peacemaker is the one that actually uses the strawberries, he doesn’t really have a good green claw. Makes sense, he’s just a little under a year old!

Hope’s attention suddenly turns to them, Lepi first, then smiling at Strawberry. She waves a slow claw and calls them over. Strawberry starts running forward, not to talk with Hope, but to immediately steal a ripe strawberry off a branch and eat it. Hope chuckles.

“Well, I guess that’s one less for the pies. I really should teach him how to make other pastries with them… If I knew how, at least. How’s my son’s favorite Rainwing doing? And Lepi.”

“Have two dragons named Huaso and Eddie visited yet?”

“Yeah, they’re inside with Peacemaker right now. The pink one was really concerned about him feeling sick, but he’s been perfectly fine so far. Know why that is?”

“Huaso’s an old friend, to some tribes he’s contagious, others not so much, and some are immune completely. Thankfully, Nightwings are immune.”

“Well, good thing that he’s dominant in that area, what about Rainwings?”

“Nnnnnot as good, he nearly wiped us out on accident, but after you spend 11 years with him, you can stick by him for at least an hour!”

Her eyes get wider at that, but then turns her attention to Lepi also trying to sneak some berries, smacking his snout away with the end of a rake she grabbed. Hope reminds Strawberry of Lepi in a few ways, she appeared out of nowhere 2 months ago with a tiny RainNight hatchling, saying that she’s been hiding in the rainforest for years and that she fell in love with a Rainwing who passed away. But Strawberry knows everyone in the rainforest, even if he doesn’t notice when they go missing sometimes… She doesn’t even know where to find the best food for someone who’s been here for “Years.” Similar to how Lepi also claimed to have been hidden since he was around 5 or so? But he also said that he was mostly on the coastline, so it would make sense, Rainwings never left the deepest parts of the rainforest unless they absolutely had to.

Strawberry decides to sneak away from the bickering Nightwings to check up on his friends. From the way Hope is glaring at Lepi, he’s probably saying a few rude things to her, and Straw’s glad that he doesn’t have to hear it this time.

The house is a bit of a mess, but that’s to be expected with a hatchling flying all over the place. As soon as the door is closed again, Peacemaker notices Strawberry and lands on his face.

“Straw!!”

“Peace!”

The hatchling giggles then leaps onto the floor, looking around. Now that he isn’t distracted, Strawberry notices that the adult dragons aren’t around, did they already leave? As soon as he tries to ask, Peacemaker shushes him, then continues looking. He sloooowly crawls to a somewhat scratched up wall, then bounces onto it, getting his claws stuck there. He climbs the wall into the rafters. Five seconds later, a Sandwing slides down, laughing.

“Found Ebbie!”

“It’s Eddie, hatchling.”

“I’m not a hatchling!! I’m like… Uh… 10 months old! I think? I dunno when my hatching day is…”

That’s a common issues for Rainwings that they’re trying to fix by keeping track of hatching days for new dragonets. If Peacemaker is 10 months old, then he was only 2 months when Glory became queen, so it makes sense that he doesn’t know right now.

“You’re a hatchling until you’re a year old, clearly you aren’t, yet.” Eddie starts looking wherever Peacemaker is, most likely looking for Huaso. Suddenly, parts of Peacemaker vanish, only his frills and the membrane of his wings, but using his wings, he covers the rest of him to hide. There’s some scuttling heard as searches. Strawberry steps up to Eddie, who decides to rest on a couch, common Nightwing furniture according to Hope, but she’s the only one who has one.

“Did you see where he hid?”

“Yeah, he’s behind those indoor bushes over there.” Eddie points to a corner of the living room, where Huaso’s using his bright green to blend in with the lively plant. The only way to see it’s him is to find some pink behind all of those leaves, or find the bit of his tail sticking out, but his green sail is still letting him hide.

“Don’t tell Peace, though. He apparently doesn’t like it when I help him, probably because I instantly know where Huaso is since I  _ see _ him hide.”

“Have you tried his pie, yet?”

“He offered it as soon as Hope was done talking to us, good shit.”

“Eddie!”

“FOUND HIM!!”

Peacemaker drags Huaso from behind the plants, laughing while Huaso glares at Eddie. Strawberry’s not surprised that Huaso yelled on instinct, you shouldn’t swear around hatchlings! The older dragon sighs and joins Eddie on the couch, while Peacemaker looks at Strawberry, then dashes off. Strawberry catches Eddie staring where Peace used to be, then stares at a wall.

“...”

“... Is he good?”

“Ya don’t gotta whisper, apparently he can’t hear ya like this. He’s been doin’ this since we got here.”

“That’s concerning…”

“Ah think he’s thinkin’ about his own dragonets.”

“Aww…”

“He’s sterile.”

“Oh.”

After another second, Eddie shakes his head then turns his focus to the group. Peacemaker returns with another pie, a couple of pieces already missing from feeding his other visitors. Strawberry gladly takes some. The hatchling then glares somewhat jokingly at Huaso, and turns to yell at Strawberry.

“Hua said he doesn’t wanna eat the best food in the world!!”

“Ah already said, ah’d throw up, ah don’t wanna ruin yer pie…”

“Pleaaaaaaaaaase try it??”

Eddie chuckles. “You’re  _ really _ obsessed with strawberries, huh?” Peacemaker just nods, shoving the rest of the pie into Eddie’s claws.

“Mhm!! Mommy says that I was hatched because of strawberries! And that they make me super nice and they’re why my wings and frill are in rainbows!!” Strawberry’s not sure that’s true. Eddie chuckles again and affectionately pats his head, while Huaso tilts his. He starts whistling his “Totally doing magic” song, that Eddie hasn’t picked up on thankfully, then he suddenly stops and shakes his head a little.

“Strawberry, can ah talk t’ ya about tonight? Friend t’ friend? Ed ya stay here and watch Peacemaker.”

“Sure?”

“Got it.”

Huaso drags him outside, opposite to the garden where Hope was seen working on it alone again, looks like Lepi finally went back home. He makes sure they’re completely out of hearing range.

“Straw.”

“Yes?”

“STRAW.”

“YES???”

“AH SAW- Okay, ah gotta stop yelling. Ah saw  _ animus magic _ comin’ from Peacemaker.”

“... Is… Is Hope an animus?”

“Ah have no clue, but ah know it  _ ain’t _ Peacemaker, otherwise it would have manifested in his claws… Peacemaker’s whole being is  _ enchanted. _ ”

“What??? How? Also why did you bother to check??”

“Listen, there’s some food that ah’d probably die for, but his obsession and beliefs about strawberries was just a little too weird, also Hope’s story doesn’t add up! Ah know the entire continent’s land- except fer the Sky kingdom- like t’ back of my talons, ah would have found where she was living, since, according to her story, she was here while  _ ah _ was here.”

“Oh, I haven’t thought about that…”

“Ya haven’t kept track of exact years until recently, not yer fault.”

“ **What’s this about you figuring out my story?** ”

Huaso and Strawberry look up to see Hope standing on her own rooftop, glaring down at them with her wings flared out. Now that the sun’s getting lower in the sky, the darkness is making her star-like scales shine even brighter, which only terrifies Strawberry. Her voice booms out again.

“And what’s this about you being able to detect animus magic? And deciding to check my son for it? What are your intentions? I am  _ not _ going to let you ruin him again.”

“Again?-”

“Ma’am” Huaso starts. “Ah’m sorry, ah git worried a lot, ah ain’t gonna do anything to yer son, ah wouldn’t even dream of hurting a hatchling.”

“Not unless your soul was lost. The only thing you have on you that could be enchanted are those goggles, so either they let you see animus magic, or you yourself are an animus. I’m not going to hurt you, I just want the truth.”

Strawberry’s never seen her so mad before, she was always- no pun intended- the peacemaker around here, making sure Nightwings didn’t fight with Rainwings, constantly saying that it’s better to live happily with what you have instead of hoping for more, giving her son the best life she could give. Yet here she is, threatening, scary, baring her teeth at Huaso, looking at him with a hint of fear?

“Straw… Git inside and look after Peace, ah’ll settle this with her like an adult. Ah’ll tell ya everything we say afterwards.”

“YOU WILL NOT-”

“If he can be trusted not t’ say anything about mah magic, ya can trust him t’ know yer  _ real _ story.”

She nods after a second of thinking, then hops down to talk with Huaso. Strawberry quickly gets back inside after shaking off his fear. Although, with how old Hope is, she’s also  _ much _ bigger than him, which only scares him more.

Back inside, Eddie and Peacemaker are napping on the couch, with the little hatchling tucked under Eddie’s wing. The scorpion tail is tucked under the couch itself, completely hidden from Peacemaker.

The sight was enough to calm Strawberry down. He knows Hope and Peacemaker are good dragons, but he also knows how protective Hope is, it probably took a few minutes for her to even let Eddie and Huaso into her house, even longer to let Peacemaker see them, and even longer to leave them with him while she tends to the garden. Huaso knows how to de-escalate situations, he’ll calm Hope down.

  
  
  


“Why the fuck did we have to goooooo there’s nothing to do at your houuuuuuse”

“Ed, don’t be mean, ah’ve lived there fer 11 years and ah never got bored.”

“That’s just a blatant lie!”

“Well, yeah, duh.”

It was time to help Huaso unpack his things now that he’s explored the Nightwing village. Strawberry was right about him calming down Hope, although she didn’t tell him anything past “I got a second chance with my son after he did some bad stuff, so now I’m going to raise him right and no one dies.”

The dying part was concerning, but if  _ no one  _ dies, then that’s good! He can’t imagine little Peacemaker killing anyone, or even being threatening.

They get back to the hut and quickly get things set up for Huaso, including multiple nests for all three of them if Strawberry decided to stay the night. It was Eddie’s idea. Huaso was worried about Strawberry getting sick if he stays that long, since the last time he’s spent an entire night with him was when they first met, and it didn’t end very well.

However, Strawberry hasn’t been feeling ill at all, maybe his exposure to the outside world fixed him? With the new Nightwings, constant visitors, and even a few short-lived trips with Lepi. Although, he knows Huaso won’t rest easy if he doesn’t know for sure that he’ll be okay, so he merged his intended nest into Huaso’s, and bid them later, hoping to spend some more time with them tomorrow.

The last thing he heard before he left was “Sooo, I’m just gonna move these two together like Straw did.”

“Ed-”

Then he was out of earshot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end is sort of weird, since there used to be this whole section in Hope's PoV, but it's basically just retelling Darkstalker's story, only sadder. This would have been the only chapter with another PoV that wasn't a main character that already had their own chapter, so I just took it out since it was pointless.


	5. Fuck It, WOF AU (5)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zinzo PoV
> 
> And repeat the other PoVs in the order they appear cuz I wanted to be cool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S GONNA BE A LONG ONE

A group of 4 humans have just left their underground home of Valor. A young man escaping his unruly boss, who happens to be his father. An old woman looking to explore the world now that the dragons have seemed to have calmed down for some mysterious reason. The man’s uncle, who wants to look after his nephew and the old woman. Finally, an excitable man-child who’s been starving his whole life despite how hard his father tries to provide.

Alstroemeria.

Continus.

Laurel.

Columbine.

Although they wouldn’t be keeping their names for long, they would later accept new names to further leave the past behind.

Also, one of them really didn’t like being named after a flower.

\--

The flight back to the desert was long. For some reason, Huaso didn’t want to bother finding the animus tunnel from the rainforest to there, so they had to waste a couple of days.

Maybe he just enjoys the scenic route? Eddie  _ will _ admit, he stopped complaining once he saw Jade Mountain in its entirety. Its jagged dragon-teeth peaks overlooking the ocean with the sun setting behind it.

Somehow, the nights were even colder up in the peaks, despite how all the heat of the desert disappears once the sun’s gone. Whenever they were about to sleep for the night, Huaso would press himself as close as he could to Eddie. It was pretty endearing. Huaso was pulling the same moves Eddie did just to steal his natural heat.

Well, he did the same thing in the rainforest, even when the nights were much warmer, and ever since that first meeting with Lepi, he  _ still _ tucks himself under Eddie’s wing. They would just walk around like that. It made Eddie  _ really _ happy, but he doesn’t know why, maybe it’s his brotherly instincts from his Mudwing half?

But even when Fred and Ted were young dragonets and they did this, at least before they outgrew Eddie, the feeling wasn’t  _ nearly _ as strong. Maybe it’s because it’s been a while since he could do this for someone? Or he’s mistaking his feelings?

He doesn’t feel like this for close friends, almost for Sugar once but stronger still. So what else…?

Oh.

Oh that’s what that is.

It’s going to be a long flight home.

\--

The sand wasn’t welcome under Huaso’s claws, but at least he’s finally back home. He couldn’t stand the heat of Eddie’s wing anymore, so sadly, he stopped most physical contact with him.

That didn’t stop Eddie from continuing to follow him everywhere. It was helpful at first, having someone else help him unpack and get settled back home, basically cutting the usual time in half. Then he insisted on staying over for dinner. That was fine! It was a long trip for them both and Eddie would have to fly even more to get home. Then he insisted that it was too late to fly home, and that Huaso was used to him sleeping over anyway.

He was right, of course, but it didn’t stop Huaso from questioning some of his motives.

But the hybrid was far too tired to question him for  _ long, _ so into the nest they went.

Instantaneously, Eddie rolls onto his side to hold Huaso with all of his legs and both of his wings, essentially  _ being _ Huaso’s nest. Weird change of sleeping habits, but it was pretty nice, and the underside of Eddie’s wings didn’t have the spiky scales so it was also like being wrapped in a giant blanket.

Huaso fell asleep pretty quickly.

\--

The moons always looked more beautiful from the sky than from the ground, Zacharie was lucky enough to get a ride from Sugar, who wanted to visit the famous hybrid brothers while the Scorpion Den is under repairs.

She starts gliding closer to the ground, taking a few random turns to make the trip longer. Zacharie just rests on her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her neck if she decides to take a turn that’s sharper than usual.

Then, near the hills that line the edge of the desert, he hears voices quickly pass by him.

“-Valor is far behind us, we are NOT-”

“DRAGON! HIDE!”

Those were humans… Did they… Mention Valor?

There’s still humans from Valor?

“Sugar, I need you to drop me off behind a few hills over there, make sure no one sees you, and if they can, that they can’t see  _ me.” _

“Are you really going to waste time with humans that probably think dragons are nothing more than giant dumb beasts that kill for fun?”

“I think they’re from my hometown, they sounded like adults, too, they were in Valor before it was burned down. There’s a chance that I’ll find someone I know if they take me to where they evacuated.”

“Alright, dive incoming!”

\--

“Lepi, I can’t just  _ move _ to Possibility! I have a duty here to help the queen and keep an eye on you-”  _ Do you really think she even remembers that? I’m working for Deathbringer now, anyway. HE can keep an eye on me, since he’ll always have to see me if I want to get into the Rainwing village anyway. _ “Well, I’d have to get permission from Queen Glory first.”  _ Then just go get it before she heads to bed! You know how easy it is to get an audience. _

Strawberry hesitantly walks over to the village border then up the large platform with Lepi to get this weird new idea figured out. Strawberry mentioned that he wanted to explore the world outside of the rainforest, and Lepi kept giving him  _ more _ ideas, as well as a bit of pressure. He suggested that he moved into the same town as Huaso. That way he’ll have someone familiar to show him around.

Surprisingly, Strawberry still realized that this was one of Lepi’s ways to get him  _ out,  _ so he can be with Cherry without interruption. As long as Glory gave them permission to “break up” Strawberry would leave him in a heartbeat. He didn’t hate Lepi, he actually found him quite fun! But it’s also incredibly tiresome to watch over someone who likes to scream IN your head.

As for Cherry? She can handle Lepi. If he doesn’t back off, she won’t hesitate to blind a dragon  _ again. _ Maybe him and Huaso can be scar-twins!

Lepi was right for once, Glory didn’t even remember that she assigned Strawberry to Lepi because of his mind projection.  _ She _ apologized to  _ Strawberry _ (much to Deathbringer’s dismay) and officially un-assigned them. Now for the hard part.

“Queen Glory, there’s something else I’m here for, too.”

She tilts her head. “What would that be, Straw?”

“I want to move to possibility, I’ve been living in the rainforest for my whole life, i’m 27 now so I figured that I should explore now that we’re at peace? I have a friend in Possibility, he’s very well travelled! He even stayed  _ here _ for 11 years!”

Glory looks at Strawberry suspiciously. “Really? How come I’ve never heard of him?”

“No one thought to bring him up! You know how we are… Heh.” His queen looked a bit disappointed at the statement, so Strawberry followed with “His name’s Huaso, if that helps? He’s really clever, and I was one of his closest friends while he was staying!”

“Well, if you trust him and he’s experienced, then of course you can leave. Just remember, the world is still dangerous, regardless of the peace among the tribes.”

“I know! I’ve heard about that  _ coooooonstantly. _ Just to make things easier, you said that there’s a passage from here to the desert? The desert is where Possibility is, right?”

“Yes but… Well, pack up, you can leave tomorrow, I’ll find someone to escort you there.”

Her Nightwing guard raises a talon. “I can-”

“Not. You. Deathbringer.” She hisses. “Frankly I don’t trust you anywhere that isn’t right by me.” Deathbringer winks and sticks his tongue out, making Glory roll her eyes.

Looks like Huaso’s going to be his neighbor once again!

\--

“Why doesn’t Colum and friends just climb mountains?”

“That would be way too much work! The desert is the quickest way to leave.”

“It’s too hot!”

Alstro and Colum have been arguing for the past 10 minutes. Continus has opted to sit on a fallen tree and snack on the baked goods she snuck out of home. Laurel is standing off to the side of the two young men, prepared to jump in if they decide to get physical. At home, this would be “Boys will be boys.” But to Continus, it’s two men being idiots but also being entertaining.

Before Colum tries to drag Alstro towards the mountains, they hear the sand crunching from a nearby dune. Laurel steps to the lead, ready to defend his group. Then, a mysterious man with black hair, dark skin, and a Mountain dragon mask steps out.

“Good evening, gentlemen.” He tilts his head over at Continus “And ma’am.”

Alstro takes out his knife, wielding it like it was some kind of blunt object other than a damn knife. Laurel readies his fists, and Continus continues to snack.

Colum has some unconventional fighting means, but he wasn’t going to let this man prepare for it! Alstro and Laurel were kind of dumb, letting him know what they’re about to do! This is why they need Colum!

“Please calm down before you kill me. I overheard you talking about Valor earlier… I used to live in the old town, until I left, and it got burned down because of the Dragonslayer-”

“Don’t say that!!” Colum suddenly shouts.

The man seems mildly surprised, maybe more so if his mask wasn’t in the way. Alstro mutters “Old town?” While Laurel and Continus’ eyes widen. Alstro puts his knife away and carefully steps up to the masked man.

“I’m not sure how far the news spread, but the Dragonslayer is a fake, it was his older brother, Stone, who killed the Desert dragon queen. Most of Valor agreed to never speak of  _ any _ Dragonslayers when Stone showed no signs of caring about it, and our old leader has been using that title to manipulate us for 20 years… You’re really from the ruins?”

“I truly am, notice how we share accents? I think it’s the same accent the Sandwings have, as well, since it was always on the edge of the desert, so we would have grown the same  _ type _ of accent, which also explains why I-”

“What the heck are Sandwings?”

“Ah, right, I forgot about the Wingwatcher’s guide. Desert dragons, although I thought that would be obvious. Anyway, before you interrupted me, I was going to say that I  _ understand _ the dragons.”

Everyone stares for a long while. Colum knows for sure that  _ he _ doesn’t believe the masked man, and from the looks of Alstro, he’s thinking the same. He can’t tell with Lauren and Continus, though. Continus gets off of her tree, and swiftly strides over to the man.

“Little Myrtus?”

She reached for the mask, but he backed up.

“Yes, but, I’ve changed my name. I’m Zacharie, now introduce yourself, Madame Continus.”

The group looks at her, she wasn’t called Madame in Valor, she was just a silly old lady that everyone liked.

She smiles and gets buddy-buddy with zacharie. “Well, the youngest there in the back, that’s Columbine, the feisty man with a knife is Alstroemeria, and the lovely bodyguard is Laurel.”

Zacharie chuckles. “Still named after flowers and plants?”

“Most every human is named after nature, we had a visitor about 8 months ago named Leaf, he was from Talisman!”

“That little place? I heard the dragonmancers got caught for lying for about 30 or 40 years?”

“Did they?”

“Yeah, because of  _ course _ no one has the power to know which person to sacrifice to dragons. Dragons don’t want sacrifices, most of them don’t even know that Scavengers- that’s their name for humans- are intelligent enough to organize things like that!”

Colum gets way up in Zacharie’s face. “How does Zachy know so much about what dragons want?”

“Woah, I already hate your voice! If you really want me to show you, I can teach you some Dragon? Although, my ride kind of left me and is maybe a third of the way across the desert by now…”

“Colum and friends catch it!”

“You can’t, she’s been  _ flying. _ Also, the world is bigger than you think. If flying dragons can take a day and a half to cross the  _ entire _ desert, then what can we do? I know someplace  _ much _ closer that’ll give us someone I can talk to, it’s just half’s a day's walk from here, somewhat north but mostly west. A town along a delta named Possibility.”

\--

Eddie has to leave early, he needs to be home before his dad and brothers get too worried. He decides to leave a note for Huaso so he knows where he went. Thankfully, as the morning got hotter, Huaso rolled out of Eddie’s grip, so he doesn’t have to leave Huaso in the cold if he doesn’t even  _ need _ to keep the other warm!

He gathers the fruit he saved from the forest to give to his brothers, and heads out the door. He hears a weird scuttling sound from behind Huaso’s anvil, but it’s probably just a lizard that snuck in, Huaso will enjoy the snack.

Then he’s gone, shutting the door behind him, and flying away from the delta town.

\--

That sound is annoying. What’s that little shit trying to steal, now? Hopefully he’s learned what’s valuable and what’s scrap.

Huaso rolls into Eddie’s vacant spot, curling up and wrapping his own wings around himself. He never noticed how big his nest really is without two dragons in it. It’s still a little warm, just barely enough to start lulling Huaso back to sleep.

But that noise keeps going. What the heck is he doing to be so loud?

Actually, has it multiplied?

Huaso raises his head and looks at the floor of his smithy. Maybe Scrounge brought a few friends?

Looks like it. While Scrounge  _ is _ there, he’s also with 4 more scavengers. Two look much younger, one is around the same age, and the last one is much older, also a woman, Huaso thinks. Huaso knows that scavengers are near the same intelligence as dragons, his own name is from the scavenger’s language for fuck’s sake, so he didn’t except Scrounge to act like a rat that you keep feeding out of pity! Give a mouse a ruby, as they say...

He slides out of the nest’s ledge and lazily crawls over to Scrounge. It’s way too early for this kind of stuff.

It’s also way too early for 2 scavengers to scream incredibly loudly. At least they stop when they see that Scrounge isn’t freaking out like them. Scrounge crosses his front paws and huffs disappointingly. Huaso gently picks up the grumpy scavenger.

“What, ah don’t have what ya want?”

He starts pointing at the nest… Did he… Want to take a nap? With his pals? Or does he think Huaso is hiding something up there? That last part doesn’t make sense, Scrounge has been up to the nest before, he knows he doesn’t have anything valuable to a scavenger… Unless…

“Yer not taking mah drawing of Swamp!” Huaso made it very clear that  _ that _ was going to be final.

Scrounge seemed to have understood, and shakes his head. One of his pals yell something up at him, in a way that reminds Huaso of a mocking tone. Maybe they aren’t friends, maybe he owes them something. Scrounge squeaks back, then the smallest male starts yelling.

That might be the worst voice Huaso’s ever heard on someone so small.

Now they’re all screaming and shouting. Huaso’s ears press against his head to try and block everything out. This is getting annoying, he  _ needs _ to know what’s going on, but it’s kind of hard to tell when you don’t understand a single word. Where’d he keep that test horn ring?

\--

“SO, ZACH, DRAGON MASTER, HUH?!”

“I DIDN’T SAY I WAS A DRAGON MASTER! I SAID I  _ UNDERSTOOD  _ DRAGONS.  _ SPECIFICALLY SANDWINGS!  _ THIS IS A SKYWING SEAWING HYBRID! WHO GREW UP WITH MUDWINGS, THEN STAYED WITH RAINWINGS FOR 11 YEARS, SO HIS ACCENT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DECIPHER TO ANYONE OTHER THAN NATIVE DRAGON SPEAKERS!”

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE ALL OF THOSE DRAGONS?!?”   
“DESERT, MOUNTAIN, SEA, SWAMP, AND RAINFOREST DRAGONS, IN THAT ORDER. USE SOME FUCKING LOGIC!”

“ _ PUT ZACHY DOWN YOU BIG MEAN DRAGON!” _

“OH MOONS YOU’RE JUST GOING TO MAKE HIM MADDER!”

“ _ WHY ZACH CURSE TO MOONS?? _ ”

“ **SHUT UP!!!** ”

All of the humans look at Huaso, who’s wearing a bright green- somewhat wobbly- horn ring.  _ Ah,  _ Zacharie realizes,  _ he enchanted himself to speak Human. Or at least, he enchanted the ring. _

He’s always known about Huaso’s powers, but he also knew how rarely he used them. While to Zacharie he seems to be speaking Human, Huaso’s mouth moves the same way as it always did. Maybe to Huaso,  _ they’re _ speaking  _ Dragon _ .

“Now… Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on here?!”

Huaso gently puts Zacharie down, then crosses his arms similar to how the human did earlier. Everyone else still seems to be shocked into silence.

“Huaso!”

“You know my name?”

“Eddie told me- before you ask, yes I know Eddie, I’ve known him for years, but I can only speak the Sandwing dialect of Dragon, so even though I’ve known you even  _ longer, _ I could never pick up on your dialect, or accent, whichever it is-”

“Accent. I speak the same exact language as everyone else, I just have the Mudwing accent. Now, why are you all screaming? Scrounge, why did you bring these scavengers here? I hope you told them what they’re allowed to take.”

“Oh, wow, you named me  _ Scrounge?  _ Faugh… Bottom of the barrel.”

“Get to the point.”

“Right! I needed Eddie, but he left early, it seems. That’s why I was pointing at your bed! I was wondering if he was still up there and it was another Sandwing I saw leaving… Well, Sandwing Mudwing hybrid.”

“Nah, he left. Even made a note saying he was going to make sure his brothers and dad are doing alright without him. Why did you need him?”

“My main dragon- No offense to you- is going to stay in  _ his _ town, so I could have hitched a ride back through him, along with my new friends here.”

“And  _ they _ are? Actually, while I’m here, what  _ is _ your actual name?”

“I’m not sure how well it’ll translate, but… Zacharie. If you’re unsure, ask Eddie about it. And these are…”

He looks over at “his” group. Alstro said that he didn’t want to be named after a flower, and everyone seemed pretty happy with the idea of changing their names. He’s been thinking about it for a while…

Pointing at everyone individually, he says “That’s Eito, Zinzolino, Mark, and Iiiiiiiiriiiiidomda. Yli… Ylidomda!”

They seem surprised and confused, which looks weird on already shocked faces.

“Right, nice to meet you all, I’m not sure you’d want me to carry all five of you to Eddie’s town, but you can stay until he comes back if you’re not in a rush.”

Eito pipes up “We’re not!! We’re just trying to get as far away from town as possible, then we’ll stay and collect supplies and travel the world! It’d be… Really great for you to let us stay? I think… I’ve never spoken to a dragon before, or even seen one this close up on that matter, and I was part of the Wingwatchers!”

“I don’t know what that is, I’m assuming it involves encounters with dragons.”

“Sort of?”

Huaso stands after setting Zacharie down and starts dragging himself back to his nest, climbing in.

“Well, there’s spare food everywhere, Ed might have left some giant fruit for you. I have a meal plan already set out, Scr- Zacharie, I’m sure you know what that is, you’ve been spying on me for a while, make sure no one else eats it. I’m sleeping in, my smithy doesn’t open for a few more hours.”

“YOU HAVE FOOD?!”

“OH YEAH, ONE MORE RULE I FUCKING GUESS.”

Huaso’s head flings up and turns a full 180 degrees to look at them… Dragon necks…

“SHUT. HIM. UP. Three moons, my poor echolocation is on the fritz because of that little shit. He can talk if he wants, but no yelling, and no talking near ME! GOOD. NIGHT.”

Huaso blocks the entire ledge opening with his wings, until he actually starts to fall asleep, then they just droop over the ledge, not heavy enough to bother him or make him fall out.

Zacharie turns to the group. “Well guys, how’s  _ that _ for a dragon master?”

“Why am  _ I _ named Mark?”

“The little X on your nose, it’s a mark, like “X marks the spot” you know?”

“And Ylidomda?”

“I’ll be honest, I made it up on the spot. I’ve had more time to think about Eito’s and Zinzolino’s, I guess his can be shortened to Zinzo… Eito means prosperity, the same as his flower, I got it from the dragons, actually! Zinzolin is the color of Zinzo’s plant, then an extra ‘Oh’ in there for naming reasons.”

They all shrug and just accept their new names.

Better than flowers, Zacharie guesses.

\--

Strawberry was lucky enough to get Moon to escort him to Possibility. Apparently she stayed there for a week a couple of months ago, so she knows the town better than anyone in the Rainforest (Aside from Deathbringer, but he wasn’t allowed to leave Glory’s side unless he has an escort of his own.)

“Honestly, my friends and I should have remembered the desert tunnel, that would have made things  _ so _ much easier.”

“I heard your winglet traveled a lot! Is that normal for JMA students or did something happen? Your mother was constantly worried…”

Moonwatcher takes off a pouch bracelet and hands it to Strawberry “Keep a hold of that, but don’t put it on, please? It’s uh… Very dark in here, and I don’t want it to get caught on any sharp corners and break, it has something important inside.”

“Oh, sure!” Strawberry carefully cradles the pouch with one front arm. She was right about it being dark, but they were halfway through before she took it off, maybe she knows that it gets sharper? He can’t tell, he doesn’t have night vision.

It starts to get hotter somehow, which is weird to feel after a whole life in a tropical rainforest. Maybe it’s because it’s winter, so he didn’t notice the change until now? Or maybe the desert really is as hot as Huaso says, regardless of the seasons.

Huaso… There’s bits of anxiety starting to stir in Strawberry’s head. He didn’t tell Huaso he was moving, would he be okay with him being so close? Would he be scared that there’s a bigger chance to get Strawberry sick? Would he be too busy to help him get used to the town? He’s already had to stop Strawberry from outing his animus powers once, would he worry about who he talks with since there’s so many different dragons there?

Moon seems to perk her head and turn back to look at Strawberry, he can only tell she’s still in front of him from her silver-drop scale on the side of her eyes, and the occasional flicker of white scales on the underside of her wings as she readjusts them.

“Is everything alright up there?” Strawberry asks.

“Just making sure you’re still following, I know it’s hard to see a Nightwing in such a dark tunnel, but we should be nearing the other side by now.”

Just as she said, the tunnel starts to open up a bit more, and the morning sunlight pours in.

It’s  _ incredibly _ warm, not unbearingly hot, but that might be because of how much water he drank to get prepared, Huaso’s told him many stories about how he’s forgotten to bring portable water, and almost died from dehydration when he was still mapping out the desert.

Moon crawls out, her green tinted scales finally clear to Strawberry in the sun. He follows after her.

The sand is exactly like Huaso described, unpleasant, gets between your scales, and hot. Moon seemed to feel the same way, she shakes out each leg every other step. She takes her pouch back and puts it on her front left leg.

“It’ll be a short flight to Possibility, just directly north until we see a town covered in rivers.”

They take off, and Moon slows down for Strawberry, since he’s not used to carrying cargo on his back  _ while _ flying. As they fly, Straw notices that it’s only getting hotter and hotter, as the morning turns into midday.

Thankfully, he finds the delta that’s covered in buildings, towers, and shops. Shops! That’s something Huaso can probably teach him while on the job, how to  _ get _ treasure and  _ use _ it!

They dive into a garden that Moon chose. It’s full of plants that Strawberry’s never seen before!

Time to start the grand tour.

\--

Zinzo’s the first to get used to his new name, already responding to Zacharie’s calls whenever he gets too close to one of Huaso’s treasure piles. Why would he have so many piles just scattered about? And why is he so worried about losing some if- according to Huaso himself- he knows how to find anything he needs?

Huaso woke up and started working by banging on some metal loudly after lighting it on fire for, like, 20 minutes.

And he has the audacity to call Zinzo’s voice annoying! He’ll show him!

Eito suddenly presents Zinzo with some fresh meat that he somehow cooked. Maybe he stole Huaso’s fire? Zinzo gladly takes it and chomps down, he doesn’t know what animal it used to be, but it was a very good tasting one. Bow that his food is gone, Zinzo thinks of a question.

“Where did Eito cook meat? Scary dragon doesn’t have fire, and Zinzo didn’t see where he got fire for metal!”

“I found his source, so I lit some of my practice wooden swords on fire, like sticks. Well, I only need one, and I have maybe 10 of them thanks to Boss, want to see our campfire?”

Zinzo nods, and Eito takes him to a tiny tunnel that then opens into a cave. It’s a little breezy, then Zinzo notices that there’s another tunnel, probably leading outside.

“Zach’s been working on this since Huaso finished his smithy, apparently. Welcome to the Cave of Treasure!”

Yli, Zach, and Mark are sitting by the “campfire”, behind Zach, there’s a branch big enough for Huaso to hold, but small enough to be pushed through the tunnel. Eito sits next to Yli, and Zinzo next to him. He points at the branch.

“What is that doing here?”

Zach chuckles and stands to present it theatrically, as he’s shown to  _ often _ do.

“ _ This  _ is how Huaso gets his fire. After a test run with this toy sword-”

“ _ Practice _ sword!”

“I figured out how it worked, now that I could understand what Huaso said when he used it! He enchanted it to make a fire that lasts quite a while, I don’t know how long, maybe until it’s manually put out? So we only have this single sword. You have to physically touch the end of it to something that’s already flammable, say “Give me fire,” and ta-da!”

“It work with human speak?”

“Well, no, but I said I could speak Dragon, couldn’t I? Now that I could understand  _ what _ he’s saying, I know how to say it in  _ his _ language, since he still shares the same language with Sandwings.”

Eito starts bouncing his leg and grinning. “Can you show us, again? I have another sword, and a bigger fire would cook more food at the same time, so we can all eat sooner!”

Mark sighs. “Are you  _ trying _ to suffocate us in this cave, Alstro?”

“Eito!”

“Sorry, Eito, they sound too similar,  _ Zacharie. _ ”

Yli snaps her fingers. “Well, my dears, you don’t see any smoke  _ now, _ do you? Also, consider that the smithy itself isn’t that well ventilated, he only has a single window, and it’s blocked! I don’t think any fire produced by this ‘magic staff’ creates smoke, since it’s not actually burning anything. The whole wooden sword is still there.”

The group nods. Zach digs around Eito’s backpack for another sword, then lays it against the end of the branch. Whatever tree the branch is from, would be the kind that grows taller than dragons, the sword looks like a twig in comparison despite being too big for Eito to use.

“Grrawl Ek Rrrror.”

Hearing Zacharie use Dragon is weird, because he wasn’t biologically designed to speak in deep growls and barks, yet if they weren’t looking at him, they wouldn’t know that it wasn’t coming directly from a dragon.

The sword starts to light on fire, quickly spreading. Zach uses a big rock to push it next to the original campfire and the two merge.

“And there! Now if you excuse me, I’m going to go “Scrounge” some food for us. Still can’t believe that’s what he’s been calling me all these years…”

Zinzo bounces up and follows him out, rambling about being the best food-finder in the group. Zacharie rolls his eyes through his new Ice dragon mask, but lets him follow. First, however, Zach starts pushing the branch outside of the cave.

“We should probably put this back, I didn’t exactly get permission to get his magic fire maker.”

“Zinzo helps!!”

It took half an hour, but they finally moved the branch back into the spot Huaso left it, right beside his own tail on the floor. Huaso didn’t even notice, he’s been so focused on his work- The metal is long and twisted now, but he’s still shaping it- that he didn’t even look at them when Zinzo bumped into his tail.

“Alright, I’ll show you what food you can take without getting him upset, and his scrap pile if you’re that greedy, like  _ I _ am.”

\--

“I want to meet this mystery dragon of yours.” His littlest brother kept insisting. In the end, Eddie agreed, knowing that nothing would stop him from asking again and again until they died of old age. Although, he only agreed as long as Ted has actual business to do with Huaso, since he’s a busy dragon who needs to work.

“I have a commission for him.”

“No you fuckin’ don’t, there’s no way you already know what you want from him.”

“It’s urgent.”

“NO IT’S FUCKING NOT!”

But Ted just leaps into the air and starts flying towards Possibility. It’s not often that he gets so curious that he actively bothers his oldest brother, so Eddie has no choice but to follow him and hope that he didn’t fuck up somehow.

A few hundred heartbeats to reach Possibility.

Moons above, he’s going to crash when he’s in a comfortable nest again. He hasn’t slept longer than a few hours for the past 4 days.

\--

Someone’s knocking on the door, and there are 3 rowdy scavengers crawling on Huaso. He finished working a while ago and decided to have lunch, only to find Zinzo munching down on EVERYTHING. While he was hesitant to call Zacharie a mouse again now that they’ve spoken, he’s perfectly fine with comparing Zinzo to one.

Zinzo was indeed one of the scavengers crawling on him, specifically the end of his right wing. Zacharie was on his head, holding onto Huaso’s horns, and Eito was barely hanging onto the sail on Huaso’s chest.

The knocking continues, and the scavengers yell in his ear about a possible stranger dragon that would eat them. With a swift shake of the wings, Zinzo falls flat on his ass, but for Zach and Eito, Huaso just lowers his chest and head to the floor and uses it to nudge them both off.

He shoo’s them away and everyone runs out of sight. The knocker decides to just walk in. Suddenly, it’s slightly colder than it was before.

“Well, for a while I thought you just weren’t home, but it turns out you were simply ignoring a customer!”

“Hello, Leopard.”

“Lenny!”

“I know. What do you want this time?” Huaso turns to face the Icewing, sitting as politely as he can, but also letting his ears flick in anger, and his tail constantly shift. If he created his scale to be like Rainwings, he would be doing that thing where his ears change from bright red to his natural color.

Actually, maybe he should do that just to show Lenny what he’s feeling, it’s not like Lenny doesn’t know he’s an animus.

It’s the whole reason he’s here.

“So, have you changed your mind yet? Thought of the consequences? The wonderful possibilities~?”

Huaso turns his head away as Lenny gets closer, he scoffs. “Ah’m not making ya an animus. Ah’ve already told ya that it’s FINAL.”

He groans loudly “COME OOOOOOON!! Just a teeeeensy bit of magic! You’d be doing the  _ entire _ Ice kingdom a service! We haven’t had animus dragons in  _ 2,000 years! Ever since Darkstalker took Prince Artic from us! _ ”

“Animus dragons fer t’ Icewings have been bred into t’ royal family. Ya ain’t royal.”

“So you would do it for Queen Snowfall?”

“No.”

“WHAT?!”

Huaso lifts a paw and spreads the palms open to the sky, he summons a large white flower to grow from it.

“Don’t do the demonstration again-”

“Ah’m gonna do t’ demonstration again. Now look, if ya had animus magic, there's  _ nothing _ ah could do t’ stop ya if ya decided t’ go and lose yer soul. No matter how small o’ magic ya use” He tears off a tiny piece of a petal. “Yer still losing yer soul.” He tears off a tiny bit more. “Gone.” Another piece. “Gone.” Then, the single petal shatters into a million different pieces, floating down gently.

“Each tiny little piece is a spell, when ya use a spell, ya lose yer soul. Notice how tiny the spells are, but if ya add them up, there’s maybe 100 of them, and look! Only  _ five _ petals left. A hundred fuckin’ spells, and ya’ve already lost one sixth of yer soul!”

Lenny rolls his eyes and sits on his haunches, letting his wings spread out then drop dramatically. “So, from how many times you’ve shown me this, you’re a lost cause!”

“No,  _ ah _ have my goggles, which ah’ve enchanted t’ protect my soul- and eyes- at  _ all _ costs. A small price, t’ keep the rest of it. Based on the spells ah did before ah got them, then  _ including _ the spell ah did t’ touch them, Ah’d have…” He respawns the petal, about 6 “spells” flake off.

“Oh, look at that, most of mah fuckin’ soul. Maybe ah’ve lost a few fucks along the way!” He grins at Lenny, who cringes at the joke.

“Now, because ah know yer unhinged as shit, this’ll be what happens to ya before ya protect your soul.” He crushes the rest of the flower, and lets it disappear into nothingness.

“So just make one FOR me!”

“Ah ain’t yer mother, ah’m not gonna take care of it fer ya, if ya  _ ever _ git it, ya need to learn how to use it  _ responsibly _ before ya use it _ at ALL. _ Ah don't give a flying shit if you git twenty damn protection spells before ya cast.”

“Then-”

“ **No. Means. No.** ”

“What if I do something REALLY important for you?”

Huaso scoffs again. He ignores Lenny and just turns to look at his ice box for lunch, then remembers that Zinzo ate every-  _ So that’s where you hid before Lenny burst in! _

Wingbeats make Huaso’s ears flick towards the still open door. Two more dragons walk in.

It’s his Sandwing and-  _ His _ Sandwing? Where did that come from? Maybe endearance.

Who's this tall MudSand?

\--

“Where’d Zinzo go?”

Zacharie looks out of the tunnel, listening to the two dragons argue. He can’t understand the Icewing, he’s never even met one before! Just seen them inside the Scorpion Den  _ occasionally. _ Although it’s still very clear that he has a different accent from Huaso, like his voice is fluctuating pitches for some reason.

Eito shrugs beside him. “I think I saw him going to that cold metal box? Actually, that’s where you got the meat, right?”   
Zach sighs. “Huaso’s going to kill him.”

Eito looks between the Icewing and Zacharie, then points at Zach. “Hehe, you’re still wearing your ice dragon mask!” This prompts Zach to turn his back to Eito, and switch his mask to a cat.

“Oh, rude!”

“Shhh, don’t bring attention to this tunnel, not even Huaso knows it exists, I don’t know what he’ll do.” Zach continues to watch the dragons, only able to hear Huaso’s side, although his magic horn ring isn’t able to translate a few words. Maybe they’re dragon exclusive?

Yli pushes her way to the front and points at the Icewing “I recognize him somehow! Although I’m positive I haven’t seen an Ice dragon in my whole life.”

Zach squints and leans forward. “I don’t know him… But Huaso’s clearly  _ heavily _ familiar with him. I might not know him because I always leave whenever I hear a customer. Dragons don’t tend to ask permission when they see live prey running in someone else’s home.”

Huaso starts making a flower from the palm of his paw, explaining something about souls for some reason. Now that they’re both fully distracted, Zacharie sneaks out to find Zinzo and bring him back. Eito said something about him hiding in the Ice box, right?

Before he can make it halfway across the room, hiding behind treasure and scraps, Eddie and Ted burst into the room. Just in time, too, Zach would have been too late to find Zinzo, Huaso’s already looking in the ice box!

Being able to understand Dragon after nearly a full day of listening to Huaso “speak” in Human is weird, but at least he has a full conversation to listen to, as well as his ride back to Sugar as soon as he makes sure his new friends will be okay.

“Huaso- woah, sorry, busy?”

“Actually, I just got done, and am now letting this valued customer  _ leave. _ ”

The Icewing- Leopard, if he remembers right- grumbles something, and heads to another part of the room, just to sit there impatiently. At least it gives the brothers and Huaso some space to talk.

“Weird guy…”

“Tell me about it. What do you all need? Is this one of your brothers?”

Ted sticks out a claw for Huaso to shake “Teddie, or just Ted, youngest.”

Huaso glances at Eddie, who nods, then he takes the claw and shakes it. “Huaso, blacksmith, only child with too many uncles, or so I’ve heard, I can’t go check myself.”

“Right, the whole sick thing, I heard. I’m half Mudwing, and even with Eddie being mostly Sandwing, he’s completely immune, so I should be fine.”

Huaso tilts his head “Clearly you are, but I thought Eddie said you were half brothers.”

“We share a mom, she’s the Mudwing.”

“I must have forgotten, makes sense now.”

The Icewing still sits there, looking bored. Eddie says something, then Huaso replies, Leopard laughs under his breath and… Seems to get an idea? He gets up and strides over to Huaso, whispering something in his ear. Huaso shudders at him, also widening his eyes in realization.

“Really?”

Leopard nods.

Zacharie doesn’t trust that glint in his eyes, but what can he do? He’s just a tiny human. While he’s here, he should grab Zinzo, make sure that he won’t cause any trouble. At least, he hoped before he caused trouble.

He spots Zinzo holding onto the magic branch, shoving it to turn towards the firepit under Huaso’s metal melting station. Zacharie runs over to stop him.

“What are you doing?!”

“Zinzo help big dragon work! So he’s not mad at Zinzo! He say weird dragon wants metal thing!”

Turning his head back to listen, Zacharie realizes that Ted is commissioning Huaso, requesting three marble bracelets to fit on one arm. Huaso’s trying to talk him into a lighter metal to make the commission cheaper and easier.

“He’s not going to work on it right away, and it might not even be the kind of metal that needs mel-”

“Grrawl Ek Rrrror!”

Of course, of fucking course he knows how to imitate Zacharie nearly perfectly. The dragons’ heads all turn to the source saying “Give me fire!” Zach grabs Zinzo and ducks behind a table leg with him. Actually, despite the fire being  _ away, _ It feels kind of warm, like he was right next to it…

Did Zinzo even  _ see _ Huaso use the melting station?

Or did he see Huaso’s “Work-In-Progress” commissions on top of the table and think they were scrap metal? Waiting to be burned to be reconfigured?

\--

Possibility is bigger than Strawberry could have ever imagined. While the rainforest itself dwarfs the town, the Rainforest village is so tiny, even the Nightwing village getting added on is still smaller than Possibility.

There’s tall spiraling towers, filled with dragons flying from pillar to pillar, or welcoming new inhabitants. There’s so many different kinds of dragons, and everyone looks so different within their own tribes! Moon shows him the most important businesses first, which seem impossible to find amongst the large groups and larger buildings.

He makes sure to memorize them to make Moon proud.

_ Hospital, drinkable rivers, fruit stands, bathing rivers, library that has some of Moon’s favorite scrolls even though Strawberry doesn’t know how to read very well yet. Hospital, drinkable rivers, bath- wait, not that order- _

“Strawberry, you’re staring at nothing again.”

“Sorry! I’m just trying to learn everything. There’s  _ so _ much here!”

“I know! How about I bring you to your friend next, since he’ll know the current state of the town and where you can be and such! I haven’t been here in about a month, anyhow.”

“That’ll be great, thank you!”

Some dragons look at him weirdly as they walk through the streets. Is it because he’s being polite to a 4 year old dragonet? Or maybe they haven’t seen a Rainwing? Moon seems to be ignoring them just fine, so it’s probably something you get used to.

She starts looking around for any blacksmith-ish area. Moon doesn’t seem like the kind of dragon to use Huaso’s works, so there’s a chance that she doesn’t have a clue as to where it actually is. That’s fine! He’ll help her look! Huaso said something about it being made of stone so it doesn’t burn down? But a lot of buildings are stone, or at least painted gray.

Strawberry realizes they’re close when he hears Huaso’s scream, the same kind of terrified scream he heard in the distance as Cherry went on a walk 20 years ago…

Oh no.

\--

Dragon paws are surprisingly soft! Completely flat, with large scales acting like a single layer of skin.

Well, they’re soft until your spine is nearly getting crushed under them. Zinzo and Zacharie have been spotted once they escaped from the flaming table. Huaso picked them both up to move them further than they would normally go, but looking back, he notices the branch that was used to light it, and remembers the high pitched voice saying the enchanted phrase.

Huaso places Zacharie into Eddie’s paws, who looks at him weirdly and starts speaking Human, butchered but definitely Human. So the masked man was right about Eddie!

The ice dragon puts out the fire with his breath, then tries to save the metal that was on top of the table, but most of it has already been warped or even shattered after it was hit with the frosty breath. It can all be melted down and reused anyway, right?

Whatever Zinzo did to the metal did  _ not  _ make Huaso happy. In fact, he’s growing so loudly that it makes the rest of the room silent. Zacharie says something in Dragon, spooking the ice dragon, and Eddie carefully reaches over and takes off the emerald horn ring that lets Huaso communicate with Zinzo. Out of the corner of his eyes, Zinzo can spot his friends charging at Huaso, afraid that he’s going to hurt the young man.

Huaso’s ears turn towards them with a single flick and he uses his tail to scoop everyone into his arms. Well, almost all of them, Yli managed to stay behind.

He starts yelling nonsense at them, growling and barking and smoking from the mouth. Ice dragon backs up when he notices that the whole smoke-coming-from-his-throat thing is happening. Eddie lowers his head and steps forward, putting a paw on Huaso to try and calm him down, but it only makes him flinch, roar, then go back to yelling. When did the smoke start coming out of his gills?

Then, his chest is glowing somewhat red between his scales, as if there’s a fire inside of him growing, but it’s having trouble keeping alive. The yelling stops for a second, then he puffs up, then he tosses Zinzo, Mark, and Eito down to the floor and tries to light them on fire!

He tries  _ very _ hard, but all that’s coming out is smoke, heavy and dense, staying on the floor even when he tires himself out and falls over onto his side. Ice dragon gently blows the smoke away, cooling the group down from the _ almost _ fire-like heat breath.

Then Eito starts coughing, Mark holds his head, and Zinzo has to sit on the floor to keep his balance. Zacharie and Yli are rushing over to move them back to the tunnel, while the dragons put an unconscious Huaso back into his nest.

Zinzo feels like he’s going to pass out, and he does, right after two more dragons enter the smithy, one pink, one dark green.

Everything hurts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost forgot to post this today which would have been BAD cuz I wouldn't have been able to post tomorrow or maybe Sunday
> 
> I fucked up and broke a tooth so I Got A Dentist Appointment Tomorrow!


	6. Fuck IT, WOF AU (6)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie's PoV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The winglet "Too Much" is actually a bit required to read before this chapter

He hasn’t woken up yet.

Huaso tired himself out real good, his gills are still open as if he’s constantly inhaling under water and there’s still smoke pouring out of his nostrils, thankfully getting clearer by the hour.

Eddie was able to get caught up with Strawberry and meet Moon while they helped move Huaso to his nest, although Strawberry had to leave once they realized that Huaso’s smoke was full of his pathogen, sadly taking the immune Nightwing with him.

So now he’s stuck with this Icewing who also refused to get sick, thanks to his naturally cold temperature. Eddie questioned why it didn’t affect him when the germs seem to die off with heat. He explained that it’s not just heat, but more of an extreme change of the body. Which is why pure-blooded Sandwings are still affected when Huaso’s been living in hot temperatures most of his life, despite having two cold-habitated tribes from high mountains and cold oceans.

No matter how many times Eddie tries to explain that he’s able to take care of Huaso himself, Lenny refuses to leave. He keeps saying he needs something important from him, and maybe he’ll give it once he’s awake and thankful that Lenny put out the fire.

Eddie could have put out the fire, just find a bucket and head to one of the many rivers of the delta, and come back. It was a small fire anyway! Lenny didn’t need to waste frostbreath and freeze all of Huaso’s commissions until Eddie got permission to thaw them with his own fire. Although, fire would be the last thing he wants when he’s awake.

The sleeping dragon suddenly stirs and coughs out more hot smoke, turning it darker before it’s back to a soft gray. At least the outpour has calmed down. Huaso’s breathing more than he did a couple of hours ago.

Eddie hops into the nest and curls beside Huaso, afraid that he’s getting too cold as the night starts creeping in. Lenny scoffs and puts his front legs on the ledge of the nest, resting his head.

“So, when are you going to tell him?”

Eddie scowls. “Tell him what? Also, back off, you’re cold.”

“Right, right, always worried about the temperature of the nest, I imagine!”

He growls and flicks his tail near Lenny, but nearly hits Huaso. Eddie curls it around his own leg, making sure the stinger is carefully hidden. Lenny chuckles and steps away from the nest’s edge. He decides that the ruined commissions are much more interesting than the other two dragons.

“You know, we  _ really _ should make a sign saying that business is closed? Huaso’s been known to work under the moons if he has the energy.”

“You do that, I’m staying here.”

“Let me guess, because you’re worried about him?”

“Yes.”

“You haven’t been smothering him when he was still internally on fire, but after one coughing fit that he clearly  _ needed _ , you’re going to desperately cling to him?”

“Fuck off and make the stupid fuckin’ sign!!”

Lenny chuckles and gathers a blank scrolls from Huaso’s shelves “He won’t miss this, I’m sure.”

  
  
  


The moons are high in the sky when Huaso finally wakes up. Before he can remember what happened, Eddie pulls him into a tight hug of wings and talons. The familiar scales are all Huaso needs to start drifting asleep, but Eddie paws the other’s wing to keep him awake.

“Not yet, not yet, I want to make sure…”

“Make sure of… What?”

Eddie’s paw starts patting Huaso’s gills, which make them close once he noticed that they actually  _ were _ open. He’s not exhaling smoke continuously from them anymore, so hopefully that means he isn’t suffocating himself again. He pries at a bit at Huaso’s teeth, who grunts curiously and tries to make sure he isn’t biting down on Eddie’s claws. No smoke from there, either, and apparently Huaso is hungry since there’s a bit of drool dripping onto Eddie’s paw.

The drool is wiped on Huaso’s wing.

“Eddie what t’ fuck are ya-”

“Do you feel okay?”

“Ah… My chest feels kinda… Warm?” He starts gazing up at Eddie, scales above his eyes are raised, as if the eyes widened.   
Although Eddie puts a quick end to whatever he’s thinking “You tried to breath fire.”

“O-Oh… That would explain it, huh?”

There’s a shuffling from the floor of the smithy, then talons clacking on the flat stone. Huaso’s back suddenly feels colder, and Eddie pulls him closer into his wings, growling at the source. The quick chortle is all too familiar, and it makes Huaso groan and curl further into Eddie’s warmth.

“Well isn’t that just a lovely sight, how’s the little animus doing?”

Eddie’s growling stops, replaced with pure curiosity. Animus? Huaso? Lenny and him seem to have a history… Maybe it’s just an inside joke or nickname? Although, Huaso seems to be completely frozen, shocked. Eddie’s afraid that he’s about to cough out an actual fire this time, that it’s finally burning through his throat and he just has to push it down. But it never happens.

“Oh, you didn’t tell him? He’s an animus! Magic! Losing his soul every spell he casts! Well, if he casts one without those trusty goggles. And before you ask, of  _ course _ the thing I’m here for is his animus powers, the armor and jewelry Icewings make are  _ far _ better than anything Huaso can create. More stylish, too.”

Huaso rolls to face Lenny and growls deeply, but starts coughing. At least the coughing spooked Lenny off the edge of the nest, not wanting to directly inhale anything that made those poor humans puke. Zacharie had to clean up after them while all the dragons were distracted with Huaso. Eddie might have to make it up to him later, since apparently Zacharie was waiting for him to visit Huaso this whole time.

“Piss off, Leopard. Ain’t it closin’ time?”

“Right, well, I’ll come back tomorrow to see if you considered my offer~!” The Icewing heads out, wingbeats start then get quieter as he leaves. Eddie sits up and shakes his wings out a bit. He tilts his head at Huaso. “Offer?”

“I-It’s nothing ya should worry ‘bout… Ah might not take it anyway, and even if ah do, ah AIN’T giving him of all dragons  _ animus powers. _ Ah won’t say who, but ah know there’s a Sandwing with animus powers… Ah don’t supposed yer tribe knows t’ stories of animus dragons goin’ insane?”

“Well, I grew up in the Scorpion Den, we weren’t really the type for stories to prevent horrible actions from taking place.”

“Upsetting. Well, just know that every spell you cast will make ya lost yer soul until ya protect it,  _ if _ ya protect it. There’s stories of Albatross learning his skills by enchantin’ a clam ta bite off every claw of his older sister’s paws, and later in life he goes insane an’ kills half of his family before his grandson had t’ kill him. Skywings were so scared of animus dragons that they killed t’ bloodline. The whole deal with Darkstalker…”

“Darkstalker, I recognize.”

“Unfortunately. This is why ah ain’t giving this curse t’ anyone who asks for it, and given how carefree Lenny is, ah don’t trust him t’ keep his protection spell on him if it restricts his powers. Sorry ya didn’t hafta learn directly from me.”

Huaso tucks his wings as close to his body as he can, curling his tail around himself and crossings his talons. He stares at the talons for a long while, occasionally shaking them as if they were falling asleep with pins and needles waking in them. Eddie puts Huaso under his wing and wraps his neck around the other’s front, letting his ear press against Huaso’s chest.

“I… Understand if you wouldn’t want to tell me  _ ever _ . It must be scary, hearing these stories growing up, living through a reality where you have to watch what you could have been if you weren’t careful enough, especially since we met  _ after _ the whole Darkstalker thing. I’m not sure dragons would be open to finding out about your powers, if they weren’t like Lenny and wanted to abuse them anyway.”

The animus lets his chin rest on the frill of Eddie’s neck, it’s pretty soft and flexible, folding under the weight without any discomfort. He uncurls his tail to let it flop lazily over Eddie’s, which was moving to spiral around it in a gentle hold. The scorpion barb never even came to mind.

“Well, thank ya fer not freakin’ out, ah honestly don’t know what ah would have done if ya decided ah was too dangerous t’ be around.”

“Until you’ve actually proven that you’re generally unsafe to be around, then I’m not moving from your side.”

Huaso chuckles “Even if ah have t’ git up and eat?”

“Maybe I could walk you to some food.”

They untangle and slide out of the nest, Eddie first, since Huaso hasn’t regained his balance yet. Huaso keeps stopping every few steps to gulp in air, eventually having to lay on the cool floor.

“Ah’m real dizzy… Can ya just… Grab anythin’ from t’ ice box? Ah don’t care if Zinzo’s teeth marks are on ‘em, he’s got my germs, I can git his.”

“Ice box?”

“T’ box of metal over there” He points “Magicked t’ keep everything inside it cold enough t’ stay fresh fer weeks. Ah don’t care if ya cook it or not, just give me food,  _ please… _ ”

Eddie quickly grabs a frozen snake- Not a Dragonbite Viper, like he thought at first glance- and starts heading back to Huaso. He pauses. Surely he’s not just going to eat a rope of ice, right? There’s no way that’ll be good on him. Although cooking it might upset him, since his throat and possibly stomach is already too warm. But the shock of the ice might be worse.

He settles for thawing it just a little with his fire, until it barely starts to bend from its weight. He hands the snake to Huaso, who tears it from Eddie’s claws and starts chewing on it. He seems to be fine.

Huaso’s been asleep for half the day, and he didn’t even eat lunch according to Lenny, so Eddie goes and grabs more frozen animals for Huaso. Looking back, there’s some slabs of meat that are unrecognizable, those have little marks and broken pieces of ice that remind Eddie of how Zacharie tries to eat part of Sugar’s meals. That’s probably the work of Zinzo, he’s the one Huaso got angry at first, right?

More food is served to the dizzy dragon until he refuses to accept more. Huaso tries to stand again and starts breathing like he’s drowning and also can’t breathe underwater. He probably doesn’t even realize that the lack of air in the smithy is the thing making him dizzy. Eddie waddles on his hind legs and uses his front arms to hold Huaso and drag him outside.

Eddie was right, the fresh air seems to relieve Huaso, who slows his breathing down and leans against Eddie more comfortably.

“How do you even breathe in there?”

“N-Normally t’ door keeps opening and closing. Also Zach’s little tunnel is a bit breezy? Fuck, ah’m still dizzy, ah’m gonna lay down again.”

“Please do…”

Huaso lays and spreads his limbs out on the cobble, then rolls onto his back when his tender stomach gets irritated from the rocks. Thankfully, no dragons are out this late, so there’s no one to give him weird looks.

Once a hundred heartbeats pass, Huaso gets up again and starts heading inside. Eddie follows, only now noticing how crushing the air feels in here. They both get used to it once they’re in the nest again. Is it the elevation of it? Is that why Huaso was perfectly fine sleeping in the nest all day, but as soon as he got out he was dizzy?

Or maybe it’s another animus thing? Now that Eddie knows about Huaso’s powers, he’s a bit curious about them. What else did he enchant? How much of his soul did he lose before he enchanted his goggles? What does it feel like to be magical?

Huaso’s already fallen asleep again, clinging to Eddie’s legs like he’ll fly away if he’s not anchored. The moons are starting to fade from the sky and there’s no way either of them will be awake before midday tomorrow. Holding onto Huaso once again, the SandMud drifts into wordless dreams.

  
  
  


It’s way too hot in here. Not just a comforting sun while laying on warm sand, it’s like he’s on fire.

Eddie opens his eyes and finds a pair of blue diamonds staring back at him. He yelps and tries to back up, but pulls Huaso awake and bumps into the wall of the nest’s cove. The diamonds are actually four- no, just two, two eyes belonging to a bright orange Skywing, glowing lightly between his scales.

Like the Firescales, Peril, who burned herself into everyone’s memories when she saved a Dragonet of Destiny from a Dragonbite Viper wound on his leg.

This Skywing is unnaturally warm, even for a tribe with the strongest fire.

_ He’s _ a Firescales.

Panic starts to rise through Eddie as he looks for escape routes, but as soon as he starts growling at the Skywing, he shushes him and pokes Huaso, who’s pretending to still be asleep. Huaso tiredly and grumpily groans at him, shaking his head to wake up some more. Huaso turns to the Skywing while completely ignoring Eddie.

“What’re ya doing, Flo?”

“Lenny told me that you needed help from a fellow Skywing!!”

Huaso groans again, not as grumpy, but more like he’s genuinely angry. “Of course he did! Of fuckin’ course he would bother t’ fly all the damn way back t’ his home, only to tell ya that ah need help, despite already being perfectly fine.”

“Well,” Eddie pipes up “I wouldn’t really agree with ‘perfectly fine.’ You covered your entire floor with a smoke that got 3 humans almost deathly sick.”

Flo’s gaze sharply turns to Eddie. The flaming Skywing squints his eyes.

“Huaso, who is that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flo!


	7. FuCk IT, WOF AU (7)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huaso's PoV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, but we finally have some establishment for a plot to start.

Introductions between Eddie and Flo were awkward. Flo was an unexpected jealous type, although he was weirdly determined to repeatedly say that he was  _ friends _ with Huaso, and Huaso is his  _ friend _ and they do  _ friend _ things. Flo’s determination was only an influence for Eddie’s dumbassness.

While the two bicker about how close they are to Huaso, the animus himself slips away from the conflict to make himself some breakfast. Some crocodile meat from Heron, a camel he managed to catch himself, a few wandering horses that might have made a scavenger or two sad.

Heated nicely with the  _ safest _ fire producing object, a tree branch from the rainforest that kept him warm at night. Not directly on the meat, no, then he wouldn’t be able to put the fire out until he no longer needs it, which would be  _ after _ it cooks, or after he eats it. History shows that the fire prefers the eating one.

They simmer on a plate carved from stone, sitting above a pile of coal he found during a few of his treasure hunting trips. The plate was greased with some orca fat that Lenny gave him, hoping to bribe animus powers with food.

The smell of cooking meat catches the attention of the other dragons, they stop fighting and sit next to the plate, almost drooling. While Lenny should know better than to win animus powers with food, Huaso knows that food is a gateway to  _ any _ dragon’s heart. It also happens to be a good distraction from the weird emotions your heart is making you feel.

Breakfast was eaten quietly and peacefully. The boys have calmed down and once their food is gone, they start talking about any possible interests they might share, most likely just to change the topic. Huaso thinks about what Eddie said last night, something about the air quality being absolute shit in here? He’s never noticed until he suffocated so often that the dumbass between the two had more common sense and took him outside.

Maybe it was time to knock a few holes into the walls. He’ll have to see if any other buildings will be in the way, making the whole ventilation thing pointless, but it’d just be a quick check. Thinking more on it, he realizes that he doesn’t want open windows, or even leaf coverings, not when there’s a risk of sandstorms. What else could he do to ventilate?

He looks at Flo and Eddie again, talking about being stuck in one place most of their life until recently. Flo’s glasses glint in the sunlight the few overhead openings let in, they’re magically protected holes that give Huaso natural light, but don’t allow any sand inside. He didn’t consider that they would block out air, too.

Glasses… Glass… A material that takes forever to melt, can be transparent, and fit nicely in metal wires. There’s a lot of sand in the desert, and Flo has a lot of time while he waits for his Ice kingdom and Sand kingdom border hospital to be built. Speaking of, Huaso might have to give Flo something that’ll make him  _ colder, _ so he can perform without giving his clients discomfort.

“Flo, can ah ask a favor of ya?”

“Sure! It’s the whole reason I’m here!”

“Well… Ah need glass, and a lot of it. Ah’m thinkin’ of making some windows with it, completely protected ones with t’ option to open them up? Ah gotta write this down, hold on.” He heads to his scrolls and grabs his jar of ink, dipping his claws in to start drawing a plan. With the sun directly overhead, the smithy is at its brightest, so Huaso’s able to see what exactly he’s drawing.

Circular windows? That’s the most common shape, but will the glass be that perfect? That’s why Flo’s glasses are square compared to his round eyes, it was hard to shape them to be symmetrical. Maybe square would fit in with the odd architecture of Possibility?

He hears Flo leave and Eddie walk over to peer over his shoulder. The Sandwing tilts his head, confused.

“What are you doing there?”

“Drawin’ hinges, like doors, so ah can open t’ windows and such. Actually, ah have a job fer ya, too!”

“Do you?”

“Yeah, can ya carve out a few holes in the walls? Make sure that there isn’t a buildin’ on the other side, but don’t make it too big, maybe enough t’ stick yer head through, but nothing more. Ah can always make t’ opening bigger, but ah can’t make it smaller without using my powers.”

“Why don’t you just make the windows with your magic?”

“Well, that’d be wasteful, but also…” He holds up the finished plan, and grins. “This is more fun.”

  
  
  


Flo managed to get quite a bit of glass for the windows, but Huaso suspects it’s so he doesn’t have too  _ little _ and makes Flo sit out in melting sand longer than he has to. Eddie’s managed to carve a few tiny holes in the wall, gradually making them bigger with just his claws. Why didn’t he just get that “heirloom” that seems to be great at knocking out stone? Huaso will never know.

Without pesky scavengers and pleading dragons to distract Huaso, he’s back on his game and is repairing the lost commissions, finishing them in a few hours and starting on the windows. A few customers have noticed the construction, so he’s able to give them their commissions early! More freetime for his little project.

The heat from Flo helping him shape the glass is a bit too much, but he can make it, he just has to finish these few panes. Eddie finally finished one of the openings, so he can go over and test a cooled down pane right now! Turns out, it fits perfectly! Hopefully Eddie will stay consistent and Huaso can just copy this one.

More and more heat, more fire from Firescales, the desert air is making him woozy again, but there’s only three finished openings left to do, he’s finished two panes, he’s nearly done with this one.

Eddie runs between each opening to make sure they’re all equal. They aren’t, but he isn’t going to do a perfect job, they’re all good enough until he makes adjustments later. They’ll do the job for now. Another glass pane has cooled down, now to make backups. More lava-like material poured into a stone mold right in front of Huaso’s face.

Lenny’s here, cooling him down. When did his vision start to blur? All he can see is red and orange at this point, so Lenny is a welcome change, surprisingly. He knows what he’s here for, but he might as well take advantage of him as much as Lenny’s trying to take advantage of Huaso.

Of course, Eddie barrels over and tries to scare him off, but Lenny just banters with him as if Eddie’s in with the joke. He nudges Lenny away and- for some reason- presses his forehead against Huaso’s, breaking him out of his working trance for a while.

“I’ll be right here…”

Maybe there’s more context that Huaso didn’t hear, because he leaves right after saying that. Lenny laughs as loud as he can, and bats his wings against Huaso to catch his attention.

“...What?”

“You do realize that he’s flirting with you, right?”

“Ah… Uh… Ya told me yesterday!”

“But did you realize that he was flirting  _ right now? _ ”

“... Admittedly no, but ah’m busy right now! It would’a slipped by me anyway.”

“Sure sure, although I  _ know _ you’re too dense to notice otherwise, so I’ll be  _ your _ love coach!”

Huaso grimaces and looks over his work table. Not much else he can do, frames are finished, panes are finished, he just has to install the last window. “Ah hate that, ah hate that ya said that. Also flirting’s one thing, ah’m not sure if he even likes me like, y’know, in a committed way. Ah’m not even sure  _ ah _ like him like that.”

“Of  _ course _ you do, you idiot! You look at him like he’s Brightest Night incarnated, you cuddle every night, you’re letting him get away with knocking your house down-”

“Hey, ah asked him t’ do that! We’re makin’ windows.”

“I meant more you’re letting  _ HIM _ knock your house down. He’s wearing a damn bracelet with a glowscale that literally only YOU could have!”

“FINE. Maybe ah like ‘im a bit! Still dunno if he likes  _ me _ !”

“ _ MOONS _ you’re SO DENSE!”

Eddie’s back, looking extremely concerned. “Is everything alright over here? You guys are yelling.”

Lenny quickly dismisses it as general disagreements, Huaso uses this opportunity to install that last window and  _ nap.  _ Eddie offers to help carry it, despite the fact that Huaso’s carried and installed every other window so far?

Oh, this is what Lenny meant.

  
  
  


“Sssooo-”

“FINE. FINE. AH’LL MAKE YA A FUCKIN’ ANIMUS. Git off mah dick about it…” The annoyance is what got through to Huaso. After some thinking, he remembered that he’s not the only animus dragon in the continent, there’s rumored to be  _ several _ within the royal Seawing family, although Huaso knows there’s only 2 of them aside from himself. Then there’s everyone he saw in Darkstalker’s throne room, equally confused about there being more animus dragons.

Icewings were the ones to have started animus magic, right? They’re very strict about it, so as long as they keep an eye on Lenny, it’ll be fine. He won’t be alone,  _ Huaso _ won’t be alone…

He puts a paw on Lenny’s shoulder and mutters “Make this dragon as much of an animus as I.”

Lenny starts shaking his front paws, trying to get rid of the tingling buzz of magic. If he knew it would be annoying, would he have given up the whole idea of having magic?

“Great! Now-”

“HOLD. ON. Ah want yer first spell t’ be a protection spell. Either enchant yer entire being, or make an animus touched object that ya can wear at all times.”

“Easy, I’m taking the object, what if there’s an emergency and I need  _ no _ limitations?”

“Ah don’t see any possibilities where ya don’t need a protection spell…”

“Well you’re not a seer… But you  _ could  _ be-”

“Make t’ fucking spell, Lenny.”

He chooses to enchant his necklace that contains 2 rings, apparently some kind of Icewing hierarchy, 1 being the best and 7 being the worst. Huaso couldn’t give a shit if he’s the second best kind of ring, this isn’t the Ice kingdom.

“Say yer spell out loud, so ah know what yer doing and know how t’ fix it.”

“Wow, so much trust in me, assuming immediately that I’m going to fuck up!”

“Well sometimes, the first spell ya cast will KILL someone you care about! So think wisely or yer going t’ live in regret and sorrow until ya either  _ die or lose yer fuckin’ soul! _ ” Huaso’s wings are flared, shaking with emotion. How could Lenny take something so lightly  _ still _ ? He really needs to head home as soon as possible and read some scrolls on animus Icewings.

Lenny actually flinches, and whispers to the necklace “Protect my soul from any spell I cast, so I never lose a single part of it as long as I keep this around my neck.”

“... Good, now go home and educate yerself, maybe talk t’ the royal family about yer powers.”

He nods and flies off, probably never going to visit Huaso again.

Good riddance…

… He won’t lose his soul… Right?

  
  
  


The windows have been working perfectly! They allow fresh air to breeze in when they’re open, but they’re perfectly sealed shut if the wind picks up and sand starts blowing around. Huaso finds himself happier at work, which he didn’t think was possible from how much he loves to create and work on his commissions!

Flo keeps visiting, bored, waiting for his hospital to be finished. Huaso would have offered to help build it, but Flo insisted that he has business here, and that there are Skywings that could get sick if Flo had to leave them alone with Huaso for even the slightest of moments.

At least he’s concerned about their wellbeing, unlike when they first met where he didn’t know how to be careful around such a large group of dragons.

But he has those glasses now! The ones enchanted to make him touchable, remove his firescales and only reduce his heat a little! They’re actually one of Huaso’s best works, and he was so proud of them. He could give a gift to a single dragon, make him happy, let him love it as much as his creator loved it and still keep other dragons safe because of it.

Every time Flo visits, he gets a little more clingy. It’s understandable, Huaso was the same way with the Mudwings when he first moved in. Flo would hover beside Huaso’s shoulder while he worked, wrapped his tail around the other, hold the smaller’s paw with his own as gently as he could. The heat was uncomfortable, but Flo would always be quick to notice if he was about to get hurt from it, such as passing out again.

Until one day, when Eddie came by to pick up Ted’s commission that they forgot in the heat of the moment. Flo was bouncing around the smithy, trying to entertain himself while Huaso was stumbling over words to tell Eddie his feelings. For a split second, the glasses weren’t touching Flo, flying off his face after a hard leap and gliding up his horns before landing back on them, taking his firescales again.

But that split second was long enough for Flo to bump into Huaso’s back. Huaso manages to only yelp before fainting, then waking up 3 seconds later, then trying to shake his wings out to get those damn molting scales off of them.

Yet he’s never molted a day in his life, his scales aren’t designed for it.

Eddie and Flo look at him, terrified. Huaso starts shaking out his back, feeling the scales peel off from there. His spine feels exposed. Eddie carefully reaches over to try and stop the scales from falling, but notices that the tender skin beads blood at a single touch of his claws. The fire filled dragons panic, while Huaso’s vision goes white. He whines loudly, slumping into Eddie’s claws while the small fire spreads to the rest of his body. The scales continue to flake off.

They start shouting, they should stop doing that, it’s hurting Huaso’s ears. Huaso can’t bring himself to tell them off. Then they stop once Flo says something, and now he’s being carried by Eddie, flying high in the sky and heading for the ocean, more scales slowly peel off.

Huaso’s tired of passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huaso's first real instance of zombie brain in this fic; GIVING LENNY OF ALL PEOPLE MAGIC POWERS.


	8. FUCk IT, WOF AU (8)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zacharie's PoV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's pretty short
> 
> Winglets up to "Animus Moron" should probably have been read at this point

What was all the commotion outside? It’s bad enough that Zacharie has to look after 3 deathly ill dumbasses, but now everyone is yelling.

Zach looks for the source of the screaming, only to be greeted with the sight of Huaso’s scales falling off by the second. What in the world happened to him?! Eddie and the Firescales are arguing while Huaso wobbles around and tries to itch more scales away by shaking. Eddie’s blaming the Firescales for hurting Huaso, while the Firescales- who has a weirdly flat accent, as if he didn’t develop one at all- defends himself, saying that he didn’t know he would bump into Huaso or that his glasses would just fly off like that.

The support on Huaso’s goggles are slowly riding up his horns, yet he just keeps shaking his head. Eventually, they slide off and clotting blood pours out of the dragon’s eyes. They squint at the sensitive light and Huaso falls towards Eddie’s outstretched arms.

The Firescales perks up for some reason. “Wait! He needs to stay hydrated and contained to live, right? I know a few islands directly west that are completely isolated!”

“How the fuck will that help?!”

“We can put him in a lake! It’ll cool him down, keep water in his system, contain his scales and blood-”

“Fine, fine, lead the fuckin’ way! And quick!

The Skywing nods and dashes out the door, stepping on the goggles. Zach hears a cringey  _ crack _ from them, the quartz lenses are going to be hard to replace…

Eddie picks up Huaso with just his front legs, and manages to fly after the Skywing, using every leg to keep his grip on the unconscious dragon. Looks like they won’t be back for quite a while. Zacharie heads over to the goggles, almost twice as long as his entire body, and starts dragging them outside. His friends could wait, they have Yli to take care of them anyway. Right now he has to find someone to fix these things. What would Huaso do without him?

He thinks back to his friends as he travels away from the desert. Mostly, he thinks about how much Huaso scolded Zinzolino for almost setting the smithy on fire. Worst part was that Zinzo didn’t even feel the slightest bit remorseful! The man is basically insane! Despite the fact that mostly Zinzo was in trouble, Eito and Mark seemed to be feeling bad  _ for _ him. In the end, they figured out Huaso probably wouldn’t have killed their friend. Maybe they’ll do something to make up for it when they feel better.

These goggles are hard to carry... 

Zach knows someone who can fix them, but he can’t be reached by a dragon and he lives on a mountain! Maybe he can get Sugar to get him as close as possible, perhaps wait by the long line under guise that the goggles are a dragon relic he’s selling to his friend. First, he’ll have to wash the blood away in a river, mostly to get rid of the smell so they don’t think he just murdered a guy with them.

  
  
  


Omega’s been looking at them for at least half an hour now, Zacharie isn’t sure what he’s trying to figure out here. Out of nowhere, he turns and asks; “Where in the world did you find these?”

“I already told you, desert dragons, protective eyewear from the sand and such!”

“How would it stay on their face? These bands here-” He lifts up the fabric-like horn supports. “They’re much too thick for desert dragons! Desert dragons have long elegant horns, incredibly thin! This looks more like they fit around sea dragon horns!”

“Well… Maybe it’s a hybrid.”

“Oh, goodness no, they’re much too far apart! Not to mention that would be cause for a variety of genetic issues  _ and _ they’re always fighting! There’s no way they would interbreed. They aren't humans, they can’t have those “forbidden” loves we could and have an egg!”

Zacharie cringes, knowing damn well about Eddie and Huaso’s feelings, as well as Huaso himself being a result of forbidden love. He can’t say anything, he would be written as a madman and lose all business in the Indestructible City. That can’t do! So, he has to pretend that he completely agrees, that yes, dragons are mindless animals that somehow know how to build a castle and keep treasure and have guards and have queens and build weapons and armor and jewelry.

“Can you fix them if I find the right quartz?”

“I’m not sure why they don’t use glass if they have fire…” So that’s what that new dragon word means, glass. Zacharie was just as confused, why is it that only Huaso and the Firescales have a consistent supply of glass? “If you find me enough quartz to fix this lens, then it should only cost youuuu… 50 coins!”

“FIFTY?!”

Zacharie didn’t have a piece of gold to his name, he usually trades with the people waiting to enter or give some of his treasure to shops instead of coins. Knowing Omega, he won’t accept anything else that he can’t use himself, which would be most gems and materials that Zach can carry…

“I’ll see what I can do. I  _ do _ want to make something clear… DON’T. SELL. THEM. I know everyone in this town will probably pay quite a bit for them, especially the lord, so  _ resist everything until I can get them myself. These are far more important than you know… Or else I’ll get Sugar to burn your entire house down. _ ”

“Oh… Dear… Who’s Sugar?”

“A very powerful friend, don’t blow this for me.” With that, he leaves the pressing walls of the Indestructible City.

  
  
  


It turns out, it’s much harder to dig for treasure when you aren’t letting a giant dragon do it for you. Zacharie has to rely on Huaso’s favorite digging spots to find treasure, hoping to the moons that it would give him quartz.

Luckily for him, he found a massive (to him) cache of it, hidden away on the edge of the Mudwing kingdom. Makes sense, Huaso’s had his goggles since he lived there! It’s odd that he never outgrew them, even odder that it makes Zacharie still view him as a young dragonet, even though it’s been 20 years.

Now to get the gold… There’s one place he could get it quickly, but would he really risk breaking into  _ her _ palace?

He heads to Sugar’s hiding place.

  
  
  


“I’m surprised you found me so quickly, it took Wren a few days to realize that there was another human within these walls.”

Rose was Prince Smolder’s “pet,” the brother of the Sandwing princesses that lost the throne to a peasant. Smolder and Blaze were allowed to stay as long as they were under Thorn’s rule as the fortress was slowly turned back into a proper palace. However, there were rumors that Smolder was falling in love with Thorn.

Thorn happened to be a queen.

A queen usually has treasure.

Sandwings tended to hoard tiny gold coins.

“Listen, I need you to convince Smolder to show me the treasury, I just need 50 coins and-”

“Oh, a fellow treasure hunter? Well no. Trust me kid, you  _ don’t _ want to piss off a Sandwing queen. I don’t need another war to start, the smell of rotting dragon heads is still haunting.”

“I’m not a treasure hunter!” He lied “I’m doing this for another dragon, it’s really hard to explain. I’m paying someone to repair some goggles and he needs those goggles to survive!”

Rose holds up a hand. “Alright, fine. This is gonna be hard to do, Wren didn’t leave me with a big Dragon vocabulary and Smolder usually ignores me, thinking I’m mimicking.” She sighs and leads Zacharie down the large and confusing halls. All of the Sandwing soldiers ignored them, muttering about Smolder getting another pet, and complaining that it’ll just steal food like “Flower” does.

“You know the guards are calling you “Flower,” right?”

Another sigh “I should have figured that they didn’t guess the exact flower. Although, I’ve been calling Smolder “Ember” for nearly 20 years, and apparently he’s  _ royalty! WHO KNEW! _ ”

Zacharie leaps in front to backwards walk while he explains a few things to her. “How did you not know?! He should be living in this giant comfy ass room with a thousand pillows-”

“You’re right about that.”

“In the most protected place of the entire desert, he wears jewels and gets to do whatever he wants! Why did it take you 20 years to know he was royalty?”

Rose shrugs. “Everyone acts like they can do whatever they want around here, at least ever since my brother killed the queen, and the new queen was out of the castle.”

“Burn never became queen, that’s what the Sandwing Succession war was about.”

“WHAT.”

  
  
  


Instead of taking Zach to Smolder to ask for gold, Rose brought him straight to the treasury, which was pretty pathetic compared to some of the gem-embedded-into-scales dragons he’s seen just flying about. Either way, she helped him get just enough gold and he flew off on Sugar’s back.

  
  
  


The goggles were finally fixed, it took a couple of weeks, but Omega was able to seamlessly repair the lenses using the fire quartz and actually used the gold to upgrade his tools to better work with dragon gear. Dragging the goggles back out was an absolute pain, everyone wanted to buy it off of his hands, offering to carry it down the giant steps as long as they could run away with them after trading him a small diamond or something. He didn’t understand why they were so obsessed with trade and objects that they couldn’t use.

Either way, Sugar came out of hiding once he was far away enough from the city. She puts Zacharie on her shoulder, ties the end of the goggles around her long neck to carry it, and starts flying west. Zach notices that she lands to eat and drink far more often than Sandwings usually do, as if she’s stocking up for a looooong trip. Zacharie holds on tight and hopes that he can get used to the cold air for what could be a few days straight.

Fear started to pour into him as she flew off the west coast of the desert, only a wide empty ocean was below them. Sugar said that she made the trip to the island and back while Zacharie was waiting on Omega and it only took about a full day of flying. That didn’t comfort Zach when he realized that’s a whole complete day over the ocean, with no food, clean water, or smaller islands to stop at.

It felt like forever, but eventually, Sugar was tilting her wings down to glide to the island with a giant red lake. It took Zacharie maybe an hour for his hearing to adjust after the full day of wind. In the meantime, Sugar caught a  _ giant _ rabbit for him, and was kind enough to cook it for him as well.

The island felt bigger than the Scorpion Den, it took so long to actually find that red lake he saw overhead. The first sign that he was close to it was a moping Mud/Sand quietly picking at a dead rabbit corpse. Zacharie sits by the lake, watching it carefully for any movement. Meanwhile, he overhears Eddie and Sugar.

“Hey tough guy.” Sugar throws a wing over Eddie and he leans a bit into her. “Are you doing okay?”

“ _ I _ am, but Huaso…”

“He’ll be fine, last time I was here he was swimming and stuff, so he  _ has _ to be feeling better. That, or he knows that the exercise is good for him! Makes him stronger!”

“I suppose…”

A few moments of silence pass, and Sugar nudges Eddie for a while.

“Come oooon, cheer up! He’s getting better! Also, you should eat that before the bugs get it.”

“...”

Something giant starts swimming close to the surface of the water, swerving like a crocodile in a swamp. Huaso starts checking every edge of the lake, letting his eyes peek out of the water, before moving along the coast to keep looking.

The green scales on his head are completely dull at this point, but every part of his body seems to be dotted with large plates trying to cover him again. He’s a bit darker and some of the iridescent shine of his green scales seem completely normal now.

Eventually, he finds Eddie and Sugar, but doesn’t get out of the water. Instead, the small beach leading into the lake starts lifting and shaking. Huaso burrowed himself into the sand and rested there, keeping his eyes on the two.

Another nudge from Sugar. “See? He’s more worried about  _ you! _ Start eating!”

Eddie reluctantly complies.

  
  
  


They had to leave, Zacharie’s been neglecting his “Caretaker” job since he left the smithy and it was probably better to leave Eddie alone with Huaso for a while. The flight back wasn’t as terrifying, but Zach still absolutely despised it.

The first thing he did was check Huaso’s ice box to make sure that the group was feeding themselves while he was gone. There were multiple slabs of meat missing, which is  _ definitely  _ enough to feed 4 humans when the slabs are cut by dragons. Next, he makes sure that no one lit Huaso’s work on fire again. Nope, no ash.

One thing that was pretty weird was that the pile of Huaso’s burnt off scales was missing (Well, the glowscales were still there for some reason.) Hopefully a friend was just helping him clean after they checked on him at the lake.

He heads back to the tunnel to find everyone sleeping peacefully. Nothing’s out of place, everything’s nice and clean, the three sick boys have a water canister next to their sleeping bags that was probably provided by a dangerous trip from Yli. Speaking of, Zacharie gently shakes her awake to get caught up.

Nothing eventful happened while he was gone, which is somewhat surprising considering the amount of events the first  _ day _ he met this group. Then again, it’s pretty hard to do anything when you’re stuck in bed. Since it’ll be awhile before everyone wakes up, Zacharie uses his time to catch up on some actual sleep for once.

He’s out like a light, Yli smiles and heads back to bed herself.


	9. FUCK IT, WOF AU (9)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strawberry's PoV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this a day early because I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. I might not be able to post Saturday either because I'll be resting, so Thursday it is.

Possibility was quite a lovely place!

Strawberry was lucky enough to find an empty home to move into that has a balcony for him to sleep on! And the sun shines right on it during his usual suntime, so he can keep the glorious glow of his scales and his high energy.

His friend was going to be away for a while, he suffered through some odd events that stopped Straw's tour early and just a while later he got hurt enough to be dragged away by his other friends. Hopefully Huaso will make it back in one piece, but for now, all Strawberry can do is look west and yearn for the moons to shine on his friend flying back to him.

But in the meantime, he can explore this town and  _ make _ new friends!

All of the other tribes were so unique to each other! The Skywings had huge wings, and Mudwings had noses further up their snouts! Seawings can glow, Icewings are cold, Sandwings are really sharp! It’s weird seeing a  _ lack  _ of Rainwings and Nightwings, but that means more  _ new _ faces for Strawberry to meet.

He was able to get familiar with the most important establishments like Moon wanted him to, but he also found a garden that was growing fruit he’s never seen before. They tasted a little weird and the Icewing running it said that it was better frozen, as well as on a stick. Personally, it just made the fruit harder to eat for Strawberry. Speaking of food, everyone here  _ really _ likes eating meat! As if Rainwings were the only ones with a consistent supply of fruits and vegetables!

Well, he knew that, but it was still weird that they’d be so picky.

As the days pressed on and Strawberry got used to living in the hot and dry town, a tension seemed to rise among dragons. Mostly, among Icewings. They kept looking at their neighbors with worried eyes and muttering about their queen. After Straw began to frequent a bar- A place that sells fruity drinks! Perfect for him!- He was able to overhear and ask about the tension.

Their newest queen was only 7, forced to take the throne after Glacier died from Darkstalker’s plague. It didn’t seem weird to Strawberry at first. So what? Clearly 7 year old dragons are still capable of running kingdoms,  _ his _ queen can run two seamlessly! And they’re prospering!

Then they said that, unlike the Rainwings, they had  _ one _ queen for  _ more than 20 years. _ Before Glory was queen, the Rainwings had 6 queens that would change every month, since no one actually wanted to be queen for the rest of their life.

_ Later just 5… _ Strawberry thinks to himself.  _ When Queen Splendor went missing, no one cared, including me. We just thought she quit… _

Strawberry was starting to understand them more. Unlike Rainwings, they weren’t used to queens switching rules so quickly. Unlike Rainwings, they mourn the ones who got lost. Unlike Rainwings, they train to survive harsh environments, gather food for their family, fight to be in the highest circle so that they would get the respect they’ve already earned just by existing.

Right now, they were scared. Their new queen is unpredictable and most of her tribe blamed her for the deaths at Jade Mountain. It was putting everyone on edge. To Strawberry, he could also understand  _ her _ more. Of course she’s unpredictable! Her mother died and now she has to run an entire kingdom by herself? And the fight at Jade Mountain was just unfair! Darkstalker was an animus with super soldiers! Kinkajou told everyone  _ everything _ about the fight.

_ Almost everything, she seemed to pause at certain details, which is unusual for her... _

Visiting the bar again, he finds a familiar face. It’s another Icewing, as they usually visit this specific place for some reason.

The face looks at him and smiles.

“Well hello there, familiar Rainwing!”

Strawberry takes his invitation to sit by him and order his usual drink. He tilts his head at the Icewing to try and get his brain flying.

“Are you the Icewing friend from Huaso’s smithy?”

The Icewing barks a loud laugh, causing a few other dragons around him to roll their eyes. He laughs until it dies down to a chuckle, then he takes a long drink from his goblet- Who served him a goblet instead of a normal cup?

“I don’t think he would consider me a friend, more like… A wingman.” He winks, then takes another sip. Strawberry didn’t quite get what he means, but as long as he  _ thinks _ he’s understanding...

“Right, well, do you know how he’s doing? I haven’t been able to see him since his table exploded and I heard it wasn’t… Good.”

“Ah, well, I’m not sure. After he got all that pent up smoke out of his system, he sort of passed out for several hours. Then for the next week or so he installed some windows, a good idea. He gave me a really cool gift that I can’t share, then he just went  _ missing! _ ”

He sighs and dramatically lets his head flop onto the table, turning his face so the spikes on his neck press into it and annoy the bartender.

“Alright, well, what’s your name?”

“Took you this long to ask? Alright, fine. I’m Lenny, a bit of a change from “Leopard” but I wanted to be more than the average Icewing with an average name.”

“Oh, cool I guess… I’m Strawberry, so I don’t really have a cool story there.”

“Great, let’s shake claws for this stupid name exchange we just did!”

Lenny sits up again and holds out a paw, Strawberry cheerfully takes it, shaking it up and down like Huaso showed him if he ever met professional-like dragons. Although Lenny was clearly being sarcastic about it, it was still good that he didn’t have to embarrass himself by being confused.

Actually, Lenny’s paw gave off a… A feeling similar to Huaso’s… Is he reliving that moment he first met Huaso?

No, this is something that’s  _ actually _ giving him a physical feeling because of the touch.

At the realization, Strawberry’s eyes widen and he yanks his talons away. Lenny’s cheerful attitude turns into one of apathy. “Well, you didn’t have to be rude about it, you should  _ know _ Icewings are cold by now.”

“Not that… Is it alright if I take you outside to talk for a while? Someplace private?”

He chuckles. “At least buy me dinner first, but fine!” Lenny slides out of his seat and leads Strawberry outside, then to an empty alley. He sits and curls his tail around his front legs patiently. “So, what is it?”

“Are you an animus?”

“... Ah… I was unaware that dragons would be able to  _ feel _ it… I thought it was just me.”

“Not when you’re familiar with the feeling, and know  _ why _ it exists.”

  
  
  


The Ice kingdom was colder than anything Strawberry ever experienced.

As to be expected, but it was still jarring when he felt normal again thanks to Lenny. The Icewing explained that he would let Strawberry look at his research and plans, since he’s closer with Huaso and could tell him once he’s back.

He also told Strawberry to stay invisible, so the Icewings won’t get suspicious about a Rainwing being able to fly over the Ice Cliff.

Because magic is supposed to be  _ gone. _

While animus touched objects and previous enchantments still worked, only an animus could bring a Rainwing over the cliff without using some kind of “gift” that allows other tribes to enter the palace for negotiations. For some reason, Lenny doesn’t have access to that gift, so now Strawberry has to stay hidden.

And of course, Lenny lives  _ in _ the palace, so in order to sneak past  _ everyone _ , Strawberry has to either match his steps with Lenny as lightly as possible so he doesn’t sound like two dragons walking at once, or ride Lenny’s back, and Lenny was quite small and sharp and cold…

After an aggravating hour of sneaking through the Ice palace and reaching Lenny’s room, he shuts the door and starts running all over the place to open drawers and grab scrolls. He also put down the floating glowy orb that was sticking by him.

“You don’t have to hide anymore, I soundproofed my room and put a sort of alarm system if anyone intends to come inside.”

Strawberry shakes his scales back to his usual pink and blue, but lets his ears flick with orange. “That was quite bothersome…”

“You use big words for a Rainwing! Sorry that I didn’t just teleport you inside, I can’t just appear in my room without suspicion. Also I don’t trust you to not mess with my stuff while I head  _ to _ my room.”

Strawberry watches as Lenny spreads several scales across his desk, making them look neat and orderly. The color of those scales seem familiar, but are somewhat unrecognizable thanks to the burn they have. However, Lenny reveals that they’re indeed Huaso’s scales, he found a pile of them on the smithy’s floor.

He shows the Rainwing everything they’ve “told” Lenny, how they grew, why they’re burnt, why they’re the color that they are (Apparently it’s still Huaso’s natural color!) It’s pretty cool, actually. Lenny seems to really be enjoying talking about “The science of magic” and such.

Very suddenly, he stops talking and whispers “Hide.” Strawberry turns invisible and latches onto the ceiling designs, so that no one can see him if his emotions show. For a heartbeat, he wished he had those extra sharp claws Icewings had, the ceiling was pure ice and- while the designs were carved deeply into it- there wasn’t quite enough space for his claws to cling. Thankfully, his tail helps by looping around a support beam.

There’s a light knocking on the door. Lenny opens it and bows. “Well, hello Hailstorm.”

“Leopard. Queen Snowfall is calling an emergency meeting to consult the dragons we found flying towards the west side of the kingdom. She wants everyone from the third circle and higher to listen.”

“Right, right, give me a bit, sonny- Oh, don’t cringe!”

“I’m not fond of the “sonny” thing, I’m 7 now.”

“And you turned 2 months ago, you’re still a dragonet to me, even if you’re in first fucking place.”

“See, an attitude like that is why I’m surprised that you’re not in the fourth circle, swearing to a dragon placed higher than you… A dragon in the first place of the first circle?”

“Move your tail to the main hall, I’ll be with you in a bit.”

Lenny slams the door and beckons Strawberry back down.

“This might be important, in case you need to warn your friends, you can sneak in with me. Actually…”

He goes over to his glowing orb, holds it, then hands it to Strawberry. Straw looks at it for a while, is there some kind of light setting for this? It hurts his eyes when it’s so up close.

“Hold that and pretend you’re the moon globe floating beside me, as long as you hold it, you don’t exist to any other dragons other than me. There isn’t really a set height for it, so hold it as comfortably as you can and match my pace.”

They head out into the hall, Strawberry watches all of Lenny’s movements to predict turns and stops. They soon enter a very large and bright room full of waiting Icewings. The queen sits on her throne nervously.

Lenny mutters “Oooh where are you going to fit? The second circle sits in the middle of everyone…” Then noticed that there’s space for Strawberry to sit behind him. Straw’s taller than Lenny, so he could easily peek over the other’s head to see what was going on.

He did  _ something _ to the moon globe that made it dim, then let Strawberry release it so it floats next to him normally. No Icewings noticed the sudden Rainwing in the middle of their emergency meeting, so as long as the moon globe was  _ near, _ Strawberry wouldn’t exist.

A few more Icewings gather and the queen finally starts.

“Now, I’m sure you all heard the news… We found a giant flock of green and brown dragons flying towards us from the north-west coast. Of course, if there’s a chance that they can survive the cold  _ and _ us, the Great Ice Cliff will do nothing to stop them, as it only blocks the land entrance. We don’t know what they’re intending to do, what tribe they are, or why they’re flying to  _ us _ specifically. As a new queen, I want advice from those who are more experienced with my mother’s way of making decisions. I’ll be taking and answering questions from the three circles, in order of first, second, then third. The first will have three questions in a row, then you can predict the next. I want suggestions for how to deal with them without starting another war or major fight, I want tribe ideas for those who travel, I want a peaceful discussion to take place.”

Green and brown? There aren’t any tribes that are exclusively those colors, unless it’s a whole population of sick and upset Rainwings. Actually, that reminds Strawberry a bit of  _ The Event _ when Huaso was new to the rainforest.

“Yes, Hailstorm?”

“Can we send someone out to converse with the dragons? What if they need our help?”

“I’m afraid that we don’t know if they’re carrying weapons or have anything natural like fire. I can’t risk anyone getting killed after Darkstalker’s plague, no matter what circle they’re in. Crystal?”

“Do we know any territories west of here that could harbor dragons?”

“Nothing but an empty ocean, the Seawings mentioned that they can’t survive out there without going insane, there’s nothing there. Lynx?”

“I agree with Hailstorm and volunteer myself to meet with these dragons.”

“No way, you’re not even 7 yet! I know you’re an impressive warrior, but there might be hundreds of them.”

Finally, she moved onto the second circle. She called on her aunt, Tundra. Lenny seemed entirely bored at the meeting until-

“I think we should bring an animus back into the tribe. We know of Jerboa the second thanks to Queen Glacier, we  _ have _ to protect our tribe and extend the Ice Cliff to surround the entire kingdom.”

His eyes widen and his wings tremble for a moment. He carefully leans to look at Tundra. Strawberry leans too, to see what Lenny is trying to figure out. She looked pretty serious about it and was giving the queen a bit of a hard glare, as if trying to say “Listen to me, young dragonet, I know more than you.”

Snowfall considers this for a long while, then nods. “I’ll see if I can get her to meet up with me by tomorrow, once this meeting’s over, I’ll send a messenger to bring her here. Who’s next for the second circle?”

Lenny quickly raises his talons, spreading his wings to be more seen.

“Yes, Leopard?”

“My queen-” Snowfall looks surprised for a heartbeat “Are you sure we should be using animus magic right now? After the whole “Vengeful murderous Nightwing” fiasco? Think about the other tribes! All they know is that we’ve been without magic for 2,000 years, if it suddenly comes back, they’re going to be suspicious! We promised Jerboa that we wouldn’t reveal her location or that she’s an animus to the other kingdoms, so either we break that promise and make a very powerful dragon incredibly angry, or we let the other tribes think that we’ve been lying this whole time.”

“Leopard,  _ my _ tribe takes top priority! I don’t care if other tribes get “suspicious,” that’s not enough to start wars over. Even then, no one can get in! As long as only Icewings are allowed within  _ my _ walls, we’ll be perfectly safe, even those in the seventh circle. Speaking of, who in the third circle wants to speak up-”

“Snowfall, you need to consider the consequences more! There won’t even be enough time to convince her anyhow and the tribe is getting closer with every heartbeat! We shouldn’t be wasting time on her anyway!”

The other Icewings start to gasp and mutter. Tundra steps up to Lenny.

“This is incredibly out of place for you, Leopard!  _ No one _ can argue with the queen! You need to learn your place before you lose your precious little spot. There’s only so much time before your peasant blood is the thing to kick you out of the circles of royals!”

Lenny’s claws start gripping the ice below him, making deep marks. “ _ SOMEONE _ needs to knock some sense into this dragonet! We can’t just keep nudging her to the right paths and hope she understands. We are in another crisis after nearly half of our population was killed in the plague, Sandwing Succession war, and the fight at Jade Mountain. We can’t take any more chances because our queen finds  _ one _ good idea and gets so hooked on it that she can’t leave the box!”

“Well, it was  _ my _ idea. As the queen's royal advisor, I believe that I’m more equipped to deal with this situation than  _ you _ , meak scientist.”

Snowfall hops out of her throne and steps between the two arguing Icewings. Strawberry gets an idea while everyone’s distracted. He turns invisible and starts climbing the walls as silently as he can.

“Stop this! We can’t be fighting right now! Leopard, just stand down-”

“ _ I _ should stand down?!  _ Your _ advisor’s getting out of control!”

The three go back and forth while the Icewings nervously watch on. They’re completely ignoring the little clicks and scrapes of dull claws climbing cold ice and stone. Strawberry finds a good ledge to sit on, probably designed to hold royal Icewings for more formal meetings, and he cups his talons over the edge of his snout.

“ _ Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoo.” _

All of the Icewings start looking around, the source of the noise is hidden by the bouncing echos. While their hearing is sharp, it’s made for the outdoors, not for a large and completely closed off room with a lot of confused dragons making noise.

Strawberry starts making other loon calls, gliding to a nearby window to throw the sound out. When no one’s looking, he geeeeently nudges it open and sticks his snout through, making the loon’s long howl again.

Most Icewings fly outside to investigate the odd sound, terrified. Snowfall follows, but only after saying;

“If you’re acting younger than me, then maybe you should sit this meeting out. Go back to whatever you were doing and don’t interfere.”

Soon, Lenny was the only one left in the room.

Strawberry glides to him, stripes of indigo and gold run along his wings and frills. He puffs out his chest in the way Lenny did to a few third circle Icewings heading to the meeting. “Preeeeetty impressive there, huh? Loon calls are so weird!”

“What in the MOONS were you thinking!? If you got caught, they would have killed you! And if they found out I brought you here, I would have been kicked to the 5th circle by now! Maybe 6th!”

He starts pacing and flicking tail. Then he tosses the moon globe to Strawberry and starts stomping back to his room. Strawberry follows him, listening to the other grumpily mumble.

“I didn’t work my whole life to  _ stay _ in the palace, manipulate a stupid hybrid for powers that  _ belong _ to the Icewings, only for animus magic to disappear entirely and to have a 7 year old dragon take over the throne!”

“Your… WHOLE life?”

“OF COURSE MY WHOLE LIFE! I’m not royal! I’m not even  _ close _ to it! My family was part of the 1st circle before the war happened, merely because of how hard they worked for it. But of course, as warriors, they had to go out and  _ die _ so now I’m the only one I know who isn’t dead, stuck in the 2nd circle because of all my animal research and shit like that! All I do is say “Did you know” and suddenly Glacier’s all “Oh wow how cool maybe we can start our own farm now” Knowing damn well that she won’t.”

Strawberry is starting to get uncomfortable now.

“Now whenever I find something  _ actually _ impressive, such as polar bears having fur that nearly perfectly hides their body temperature, Snowfall goes “How is that useful to us, we don’t have natural heat.” But that’s not the fucking point! The point is understanding our food to better hunt! Understand how we can find it and manipulate it and keep it alive by understanding their evolution so that we don’t FUCK IT ALL UP!”

“Why don’t you guys just make fruit farms? You got a few that  _ like _ to grow in snow…”

“THAT’S NOT T- Ugh, why am I bothering to tell you.”

They enter Lenny’s room. He slams the door so hard that his bed and desk shake for a heartbeat. He flops onto the bed, dramatically but also genuinely upset this time. Strawberry puts the moon globe on the desk, trying to do the turning thing to light it up since it was starting to get dark outside. Instead, he turned it down. Honestly, the moonlight’s gonna reflect on the snow anyway, why did he try?

“I’m sure you won’t understand this at all, being a Rainwing and such, but I  _ need _ to be something. I need to be someone important so I have a  _ reason _ to be in this world. But if that reason will only scare our new skittish queen, then I need to figure something new out. I can’t tell her about my powers without being manipulated myself. I have the whole world on my wings now. I thought it would bump me up to the first circle, higher than Hailstorm, so I could actually be someone without having royal blood, but it’s not bringing animus magic  _ back _ to the Icewings, not anymore.”

He sits up and points directly at Strawberry, flicking his wingtips to gesture some more. “It’s being turned into a secret weapon, since Icewings will be blamed for the animus loss if they’re the only ones  _ with _ an animus.”

Strawberry sits on the cushions beside Lenny’s bed, his tail is thankful that it isn’t being dragged on ice cold stone anymore. “So, what are you going to do about it now?”

Lenny hums, pondering. He mumbles something to himself, then touches his own chest after getting an idea.

“Make me the best seer in the world for 200 heartbeats. Better than the Nightwings’ best from when their powers were strong 2,000 years ago.”

As soon as he finishes talking, he starts to scream loudly and grabs his head. Strawberry leaps up and holds onto Lenny, keeping him still. Lenny starts thrashing around and blinking hard. His snout opens up as words in an unfamiliar voice pour out.

“ **Beware the tyrant being played by Evil’s Breath**

**Or Wings of trees will meet their death.**

**The dragonets know what to do**

**But a strong fire won’t help you.**

**When the cold claws of the cage clamps shut**

**Keeping his soul safe is a must.**

**For a tyrant under a plant’s influence**

**Is better than a tyrant with powers supposed to be absent.** ”

The 200 heartbeats are up.

Lenny’s eyes open, tears stinging on the edges. He holds his throat and coughs out some blood. Strawberry panics, looking around for anything that could help, but Lenny drags himself to his window and eats some of the snow on it. Then, he grabs an empty scroll and some ink.

“I need to get this down…” Another cough. “Moons, my head… I want to sleep in a pile of snow and never wake up, but this takes priority.”

The Rainwing peeks over his shoulder, watching the words slowly appear on the scroll. His Nightwing friends have been able to help him read, so he can look over the prophecy a few times to make sure Lenny’s writing it down accurately. There’s a chance the Icewing doesn’t know that Rainwings are being taught to read under Glory’s rule, which might be why he isn’t bothered by Strawberry looking so closely.

Everything’s good so far, there’s the wings of trees, the fire, cage, soul. Lenny pauses, and hums.

“For a tyrant under a plant’s influence is better than…”

He writes the final line.

_ “Is better than a tyrant with powers wrongfully granted to her.” _

Straw tilts his head. He points to the last line and spouts “That’s not what you said.”

Lenny swivels his head around, surprised. It’s replaced with a bit of a smug look. “Well, you’re not the one who snapped his vocal chords trying to say a prophecy. Besides, it’s clearly talking about Snowfall! She’s not supposed to have her  _ power _ as a queen, she’s going to be a tyrant because she’s so controlling! The  _ other _ tyrant worries me, though. Did the Leafwings in this timeline bring her directly here? Or are they free from her influence in this timeline? The future visions didn’t specify.”

“Wait, you know what tribe they are?”

“Now that I’ve seen a future where I meet them!”

“Then tell your queen! She deserves to know! Isn’t this sort of knowledge important?”

Lenny shrugs and opens the door to his balcony, nudging Strawberry to stand outside with him. “Well, if she’s really the “Worst” tyrant, then I don’t want to give her reason to be aggressive to them, hm? Really, they’re just looking for a way to escape their own bad situation, I didn’t see a timeline where they came here just to murder us! Even in the timelines where they  _ weren’t _ free…”

“What are you t-”

“Now come on! Let’s fly off and get you back home, young man. No use in you getting lost in the cold out there~!” Lenny leaps off and starts flying away, not waiting for Strawberry.

_ He’s trying to get rid of me, he’s starting to realize that I’m suspicious of him. _ Strawberry follows reluctantly.  _ I’ll rest up at home and fly to Huaso. He needs to be warned, maybe he knows how to take away his powers? _

The cold blues turn into warm golds, Lenny leaves him to fly the rest of the way home. With the moons out, 2 of them mostly full, and 1 actually full, Strawberry is able to safely make it home without getting lost in the dark. It was hard to fall asleep with all these thoughts swirling in his head, making his scales flicker all sorts of confused colors.

That morning, his usual pink settles for a deep red, as he finally realizes what’s going on.

_ Lenny’s DEFINITELY the tyrant. He’s going to put the blame on an innocent dragon who barely turned 7 and had her power forced into her talons. He can’t do this. _

He packs as much fruit as he can and starts flying west, hoping to find his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to "As soon as The Dangerous Gift is out, everything I wrote is going to be incorrect" but that's a risk I'm willing to take!
> 
> It's MY Au, I get to choose the inaccuracies!


	10. FUCK IT. WOF AU (10)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's 10 Povs this time jesus-
> 
> Zinzo-Eddie-Huaso-Zacharie-Strawberry-Fred-Flo-Lepi-Lenny-Ted
> 
> The last 5 are going to be the main PoVs for arc 2!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's the longest chapter so far (If I remember right?) so be prepared
> 
> Also I didn't take long to edit this one so prepare for mistakes, I was uhhh procrastinating

Their health was finally improving.

It took nearly a month, but the humans were starting to get out of bed and eat more than usual. Eito and Mark had a slight grudge against Zinzo for getting them sick, although Zinzo keeps saying that it’s their fault for trying to defend him without a real plan. Ylidomda hasn’t caught  _ any _ of their symptoms despite the fact that she’s been trapped with them the whole month.

Zacharie was gone most of the time, after disappearing for 2 weeks he came back to say that Huaso is  _ also _ super fucked up right now. Apparently, he’s stuck on an island in some kind of blood river. Zinzolino didn’t really care, as soon as he was able to move he snuck out to steal more of Huaso’s food. It’s not like he’s going to miss it!

When Zach returns and the group is at their best, he gives them some heavy news. He’s overheard the dragons talking about a possible invasion of an unknown “Tribe” of dragons, and it’s putting everyone on edge. There’s a chance that the mystery dragons would also find  _ them _ and eat them without hesitation, since Huaso’s still gone, Eddie’s with him, and Sugar can’t fight off a hoard of hungry dragons.

“-So we have to stay inside and hope for the best. They said the Icewings have the most access to them and are currently figuring out what’s going on.”

Zinzo groans loudly, annoyed and  _ annoyingly _ . He starts to dramatically walk out of the tunnel before Mark grabs the back of his shirt, lifts him up, spins him around, and Zinzo’s flopping onto his bedroll.

“You can’t contain Zinzo! Zinzo will not be stuck! No one except Zachy has been able to leave this whole time!”

“Zinzo  _ will _ be contained.” Mark explains in a stern voice. “Otherwise, we’ll meet a fate worse than being bedridden for a month.”

\--

Huaso said he’s almost ready.

His scales have finished regrowing, the usual shiny green parts that aren’t  _ supposed _ to be glowscales are more of a dull green now, and he feels really sharp. Eddie suggested that the crabs they were eating were the ones giving him the hard scales, but Huaso said that they’re probably naturally like that now that he’s on a Seawing diet, instead of a very mixed diet of Sandwing, Skywing, and Icewing for some reason?

Right, he also mentioned Lenny would give him “rare” food in exchange for animus powers.

Also Lenny has animus powers.

And so does Huaso.

It’s been a long month.

The sun is starting to set and Eddie is alone at the lake. His brothers flew back home early this morning. Sugar was visiting 2 days ago, so she won’t be back for a while. Flo was here a couple of hours ago, but left quickly. Eddie himself hasn’t left the island since Huaso got here.

He doesn't want Huaso to think that he’s completely starving himself waiting for him, so Eddie’s making sure that he’s eating a healthy amount of rabbits. They’re starting to get a little afraid of him, but there’s still groups that have yet to encounter any dragons.

He rests by the side of the lake to try and sleep the night away. Every night, it was harder and harder to fall asleep. Whenever he gets close to it, his head keeps buzzing worried thoughts, thoughts that keep him awake far longer than he likes. So, Eddie decided to try and sleep before the sun’s really gone. If he can fall asleep earlier than usual, maybe he won’t feel as bad in the morning.

The sound of water lapping the small beach starts to get louder. Then, it sounds like the whole lake is sloshing, crashing into the shores. Eddie lifts his head to keep an eye on the lake. There’s a small whirlpool in the center. A blurry red figure is swirling around the edges of it, keeping the whirlpool relatively small, but also making sure it’s still moving.

Then, it starts swimming towards Eddie the speed of a Rainwing dart. Eddie sits on his hind legs and opens his arms for it.

_ You’re back… _

\--

He’s finally done healing, he’s completely sure of it. Huaso’s checked himself multiple times throughout the day just to be  _ extra _ sure. All of his scales have regrown, his back isn’t in any pain and doesn’t show any burn marks. Even his throat feels infinitely better after all the time he’s spent in the water.

Huaso got so excited about finally being done, that he got a burst of energy and started to swim across the lake. It felt great. He felt like he could swim across the entire ocean. When was the last time he actually felt this healthy and happy in the water? Or at all, for that matter?

Eventually, he starts swimming in circles in the middle of the lake, starting a small whirlpool. He feels like he’s being watched. Of course it’s Eddie, poor dragon’s probably confused by Huaso’s insane swimming patterns.

_ Eddie… _

Eddie has done a lot for him, cared for him regardless of his own needs (Huaso should make sure that doesn’t happen too often.) He’s also been keeping an eye on Huaso this whole time, risking his health to make sure that the blacksmith doesn’t get lonely while he waits for his muscles to return to him.

Huaso really got attached to him… How could he not? Eddie was fun to be around, he was really silly and while it would sometimes take him a while to read the room, he wouldn’t hesitate to change his attitude to fit the situation. It’s how Huaso was able to make it to the island at  _ all _ after all!

This whirlpool’s getting pretty fast, Huaso should probably stop spinning as well as stop his rambling thoughts. Although… He has made a pretty good current…

Without a doubt to stop him, Huaso flings himself to Eddie and starts paddling up to shoot out of the water. He stretches his claws out as the water surface breaks and he’s tossing himself into the air. Eddie’s already reaching for him.

“HUASO?!”

“Eddie!”

Huaso crashes right into Eddie and they topple over. A few glops of old blood are sticking to Huaso’s snout and wings. He should have left slowly, then he could clean himself off as he left the water so he didn’t cover Eddie with old blood clots. And yet, Eddie didn’t seem to care at all. He pulls both of them back to sit on their haunches and he wraps wings around Huaso, as well as his front legs around the other’s neck. Huaso’s pulled closer to lean fully against Eddie’s chest.

It was warm, he hasn’t been this warm since he got here… Eddie nuzzles the top of Huaso’s head, right between the horns. Now their tails are intertwining themselves. Neither of them worry about the venomous barb.

Huaso felt  _ safe, _ safer than he has in a long time. He closes his eyes and lets himself be held for what seems like hours, but not nearly enough.

Lenny told him something interesting that made Huaso notice a few of the things Eddie does.

Eddie’s obviously been flirting with him. Huaso’s never noticed because, well, how was he supposed to recognize it? It’s not like anyone’s flirted with him before, anyone who would actually be able to stick around him without getting sick saw him as their brother. But is flirting enough evidence that Eddie actually likes him?

_ Should I tell him that…  _ I _ like him? That I love him? _

Eddie  _ almost  _ beats him to it. He starts spouting everything in his head, like how much he missed Huaso, how scared and worried he was, how he didn’t want to lose Huaso and he wasn’t going to let Huaso get in that much trouble ever again. More importantly;

“I-I need to say this in case anything happens again and I can’t help you, or something happens to me, or fuckin’  _ anything _ . Moons I… Huaso… Y-you’re allowed to feel whatever the fuck you want and shit and push me away cuz I get it but- I l- I really  _ really _ fucking-”

“I love you.”

Eddie shuts up from pure shock.

Then the hug gets tighter and Eddie’s pressing their foreheads together, letting Mudwing-like tears fall out of his dark warm eyes.

“Fuck… I love you too… S-So much and I don’t even know  _ how, _ I didn’t think… That I could love someone so much…”

Huaso raises his snout a bit to bump it with Eddie’s, but Eddie’s tongue flicks against the top of his nose a few times. He grins while Huaso lightly shakes his head from surprise. Now they’re just silently hugging each other again. Then, Eddie lowers to the ground, dragging Huaso with him. He yawns and Huaso yawns back from it. The sun is gone, so it’s time to sleep.

Eddie’s completely gone at this point, snoring peacefully while his wing rests over Huaso. It was relaxing to watch him like this, until sleep catches up to Huaso as well.

\--

“Any update from the Icewings?”

Sugar came back from her hunting trip, as well as bar hopping to try and get some Icewings to loosen up about their strict life. She drops a bag of raw meat towards the tunnel in Huaso’s wall and shakes her head.

“Nothing new, sadly. Although they’re certainly  _ spikier _ than usual, if that’s really a word.”

“Who’s to say, my dear?”

She digs around the back and pulls out a slice of still bleeding python, cooking it with her fire. Once it’s safe enough for humans to eat and it cools down enough to be held, she drops it into Zacharies waiting palms. He tears a piece off for himself before scurrying into the tunnel, handing it to Ylidomda to cut and share, then scurries back out.

By the time he’s back, she’s finished cooking the rest.

“Don’t trust them with the magic stick, huh?” He asks.

“Weeeell… That, and I was hoping you’d fly with me to see the situation with our own eyes?”

Zacharie’s face goes pale. Thankfully, Sugar couldn’t see through the Seawing mask. “Are you  _ insane?! _ ”

“Oh, you know I’ve been described as that a million times, little man! Considering how many times I’ve been told that, it must be true~! So indulge my ‘insane’ thoughts and help me figure out what’s going on with this weird new tribe. Maybe we can prevent a few deaths.”

Sugar picks up Zach before he can escape into the tunnel again. She places him onto her back, and walks on her hind legs to keep him from hopping off at a safe height. Huaso’s stone floor certainly helps her with that. Zach clings to the frill on her neck, sighing annoyingly to try and persuade her a bit to change her mind.

“Hush, grumpy paws! We’ll visit Huaso first, I heard the tribe was going in a bit of a zigzag pattern, so they might end up in the desert instead of the Ice kingdom anyway.”

“Fine, but if I see any venom, poison, long range fire or anything like that, I’m yanking on your ears until you turn your wings around and take the sea breeze BACK to Pyrrhia!”

\--

He didn’t exactly mean to fall in the ocean.

Rainwings weren’t made to fly for a day straight.

He didn’t even know where he was going.

He just  _ needed _ to tell Huaso about Lenny, that he’s changing a real prophecy to put future blame on someone else. All Strawberry knew was that Huaso was West, so he  _ went _ West, and he kept  _ flying and flying and flying _ until he couldn’t move his wings anymore. Quite literally.

He had no idea the ocean was this cold, colder than the harsh winds a mile high. It froze his body solid. Strawberry eventually lost all consciousness. The waves tossed him around and around, barely able to drag his head under the water with how light and long his neck is.

It was just before he was too far under to be seen and just a few seconds before he left for the moons. Strawberry’s body was completely replaced with warmth. He wakes long enough to recognize wingbeats/ But they’re far too slow for how fast they’re flying and they sound… Elegant, somehow.

Strawberry wakes again to a  _ very _ warm silky blanket being placed over him, gradually, from neck to tail somehow. He opens his eyes to blink around, but it’s far too dark. There’s some light right above his head. Everytime Straw tries to move to look, his body angrily refuses.

“He’s awake now, hopefully this type of silk didn’t burn him up.”

“It felt perfectly fine to me, Sundown. A good sign is that he didn’t light on fire.”

The light goes from a soft orange to a bright white, with a tinge of blue. It flashes a few times. The deeper voice chuckles and walks around Strawberry’s head to be seen. He’s a dragon he’s never seen before, even in Possibility. He had two pairs of wings, long and shaped like a butterfly’s, he also had antennae right above his eyes and a very long snout that held a stern, confused face. The Strangewing looks past Strawberry, watching the flashing again, and smiles.

Next, a Seawing shows his face, or rather half of it. The left of it was completely burnt. The Seawing puts a talon over the other’s gently, the one that isn’t holding a ball of fire. What is that?

“Are you alright, my dragonet?” The Seawing speaks softly, it almost lulls Strawberry back to sleep.

“I’m not… A dragonet, I’m nearly 30…”

The Strangewing chuckles again. “He calls everyone that, kind of like a priest but  _ far _ nicer than the ones queen Wasp appointed back in Pantala. Maybe a cross between a priest and a monk, most of the Hivewings on the islands were monks, although old fashioned.”

“What in the world are you talking about…?”

“Sorry, no one else to talk to about anything. Shell and I are the only two here.”

Shell flashes his glowscales again and Sundown- if Strawberry remembers that right- nods. Does his tribe know aquatic? Or did Shell teach him that? Or maybe he’s just pretending to understand Shell?

“Hey, are you… What did you call them? Hivewings?”

Sundown grimaces a bit and shakes his head. “Silkwing, actually. More accurately, a Flamesilk, although that’s apparently far less impressive here where four of  _ your _ tribes are naturally hatched with fire.”

Shell nudges him. “Well, they can’t make magically heated blankets with their fire…”

“That’s true. Now what tribe are  _ you _ , if you’re able to stay awake long enough to converse.”

Shell flashes again and walks out of some kind of cave entrance. Hopefully he’s grabbing fruit.

“I’m a Rainwing, name’s Strawberry, it might be obvious if… Well, I don’t know what color my scales are right now, I can’t move my head or feel my body.”

“White.”

“Should have figured, normally I’m pink.”

And that’s all he could say before he passes out again, although he does catch Sundown say;

“Wait, did you say Rainwing?”

\--

Fred wasn’t exactly pleased with the sight he came back to.

Of course he knew Huaso and Eddie were  _ absolutely _ pining for each other, but he didn’t think that either of them would have the guts to actually confess. Yet here they are, cuddling and touching snouts and why is his older brother licking Huaso? Gross!

To Fred, this just means another dragon to keep an eye on. If Huaso even  _ thinks _ about doing anything bad to his brother, he’s going to be seasoned with lemon and rats.

He’ll just leave the two alone for a while longer, maybe snack on another rabbit.

As he flies over the lake, his ears perk up to the sound of wingbeats, from multiple dragons, a lot of them.

_ A hundred of them. _

Alright, time to interrupt the Lovewings, there’s a hoard of green dragons flying right to their island and Fred wasn’t going to deal with them by himself. Of course, Huaso starts to get embarrassed and stutters when he hears the giant dragon land right in front of them, while Eddie holds his giant ass grin and pulls Huaso even closer. Good for his brother, being happy and shit, but there’s bigger issues right now.

“Eddie, there’s a pack of dragons flying right towards us, like,  _ a whole lot of them, _ so you should probably ask your brain really nicely if it’ll let you remember what Burn’s army taught you.”

“Fuckin’ WHAT?!”

Ted finally joins the group, slow flyer. Thankfully, he heard everything and already agreed to help defend against the dragons. Although he was going to be boring about it and actually  _ talk _ with them!

“We need to figure out what’s going on before we attack, otherwise we’re going to have a hundred enemies in half a heartbeat.”

“Who’s to say they’ll bother letting us talk? Let’s just push them off and maybe I can isolate one for a snack~!”

“Ah can’t git near ‘em, t’ only green dragons ah know are Rainwings and Seawings, there’s no way ah’m gonna risk them gittin’ sick!”

“Hua, didn’t your skin and shit harden? Maybe you can’t spread diseases anymore.”

“I haven’t felt sick around him yet which is new, but we know for a fact that he’s more contagious in the water and we’re on an  _ island. _ ”

“Maybe you  _ should _ get them sick! Also, they’re definitely not Rainwings,  _ waaaaay  _ too sharp, also their wings are the wrong shape! It looks like a bunch of leaves flying towards us.”

“Fred, that’s worse! If it’s a new tribe, then ah’m a direct source of Pyrrhian diseases! Unlike  _ our _ tribes who live in t’ same places ah do, they could have come from someplace that has never adapted to anything ah have-”

“Fuck it, I’m flying up there.”

“No you are not.”

“ **GUYS!** ”

A new voice rings out from above them. Flo is hovering nervously, staring at the approaching flock. Actually, when did he get here? Fred was a little jealous that Flo was not only the fastest tribe in the world, but also has this weird fire boost that makes him faster somehow, like the hot air is propelling him. It’s unfair that he only gets half a day of flying time when he visits.

\--

“They can’t harm me if I take off my glasses! I can approach them, explain what my glasses do, and if  _ need be, _ I’ll maybe grab someone’s claw for a bit? JUST so they understand that I’m not lying!”

The group below Flo nods and anxiously looks at the flock of mystery dragons. Flo dashes on ahead to meet them before they get too close.

Their image gets clearer, they’re so bright with greens, oranges, and golds that it’s visible through Flo’s blue lenses. Soon, he’s face to face with the leader, who’s thankfully stopped the whole flock to address him.

“U-Uh...” The “Leader” looked to be only 6 years old, if this tribe followed the same aging rules as Pyrrhians. Regardless, she was just as nervous as a 6 year old, with a hint of thankfulness that Flo isn’t just attacking them.

“Hello! I’m Flo, from Pyrrhia, I have animusly enchanted glasses to protect others from my firescales, I’m kind of the sudden first defense of my continent alongside my friends? Do you know Dragon? If you do, can you please tell me what you’re doing here before I burn you all to a crisp?”

She looks into her flock and beacons a few dragons over. They seem to be flying slowly through the crowd, a few of them hissing and yelling, while others are muttering apologies.

“I-I’m Princess Hazel of the Leafwings, or Queen Hazel if my great grandmother doesn’t escape Pantala without getting mind controlled… We just want to escape, I made sure none of my Leafwings were under the control of the Breath of Evil, I know that sounds like nonsense but-”

“ **BACK UP ALREADY! OR I’M DIVING INTO THE OCEAN RIGHT NOW AND DRAGGING OUT A SHARK TO BITE YOU!** ”

“Tsunami-”

Two Seawings, one blue, one green, both  _ royal _ judging from the patterns on their wings, fly out of the flock. Following them is another Leafwing, with gold speckeling her face and neck, as well as a completely different dragon with dragonfly-like wings, golden with black splotches, and glasses like him… They’re advanced enough to have glass?

Wait, did that Seawing say “Tsunami”? As in the Dragonet of Destiny Tsunami? What was she doing here? And is that her younger brother or something? The green Seawing speaks up timidly.

“Did you say animusly enchanted? How long ago? By who?!”

“Woah woah woah, calm down Turtle.” Tsunami edges closer to him. “No need to force animus secrets out of dragons… Actually,  _ you _ of all dragons should know better.”

The front dragons- probably the ones who know the Seawings somehow- all look at them weirdly.

“Animusly enchanted?” Hazel asks.

“Great,  _ more _ secrets, maybe we’ll get an  _ even weirder _ enemy! HEY! WHO WANTS TO DOWNGRADE FROM SENTIENT PLANT TO A  _ ROCK?!? _ ” Shouts the green and gold Leafwing.

“OH MY GOODNESS! Your wings look so much like Clearsight’s! Well, judging from the statue in Jewel Hive’s library at least, I think your’s are  _ much _ bigger compared to the rest of your body than hers, do you know why that is?”

“Cricket, tone it back on the curiosity, please? Although, Flo, if you feel like answering questions, what’s firescales?”

Turtle raises a talon. “I know this one, it’s when a Skywing is born with too much fire, so they’re basically  _ always _ on fire and one touch for too long can kill you, unless you’re immune to fire somewhat. Maybe Blue would be since he’s a Flamesilk? Also, I thought Peril was the only one, where have  _ you _ been?”

Flo backs away from the group for a bit. “Ooooookay! That’s way too many questions to answer all at once! I’m assuming you want to rest on this island before heading to Pyrrhia?”

Hazel nods quickly “ _ Please. _ We’ve been island hopping for the last week and this is the longest we’ve gone without one…”

Flo leads them back down, trying to gesture to his friends (If the brothers consider him a friend…) that they’re safe and just want to rest. It seems to work, as they clear some space for them by chasing off the rabbits, and Ted starts cleaning up Fred’s horrifying bone pile.

As soon as the flock feasts on the tame rabbits, the Leafwings seems to separate into two groups. The angry ones are called Poisonwings by the calm ones, and the calm ones are called Sapwings by the angry ones. They even have different naming conventions, Poisonwings are named after dangerous plants and trees, while Sapwings are named after peaceful flowers and plants commonly used in healing practices.

The Seawings stay with a  _ much _ smaller group, consisting of Cricket (A Hivewing,) Io (A Silkwing,) and the green and gold Leafwing from earlier, Sundew. She was being handed a hatchling Hivewing named Bumblebee by Io, who was holding her safely near the back of the flock in case Flo was dangerous.

Queen Hazel ran from each group to make sure everyone was fed, while the brothers socialized and told them to stay away from the lake Huaso was currently hiding in. He didn’t need to stay in there to heal anymore, but he didn’t want to risk hurting the Leafwings by sitting anywhere near them.

One of the Poisonwings decided to risk checking out the lake anyway. Tsunami noticed and was quick to try and drag him back. “NO, ACONITUM!! THEY LITERALLY JUST SAID IT WAS FILLED WITH BLOOD AND DISEASES!”

“Yes, yes, but it’d be quite rude of me to just leave a dragon on his lonesome! Besides, what if he’s hiding because he’s a threat?”

“I promise you, he’s  _ NOT. _ They said He’s a Seawing, just like me! Well, a Seawing and Skywing hybrid, so more like me and Flo!”

“It’s legal for you guys to have hybrids?” Cricket asks.

“Most places it always has, although the Sand and Sky kingdoms were… New…”

Huaso floats to the surface to check out the commotion. When he spots Tsunami, he perks up and starts swimming over, slow enough so he won’t splash any water on her. But then he see’s Flo and heads to him instead.

“Flo, do ya know her?”

“Everyone knows Tsunami, as well as the other dragonets.”

“Yeah, but… Ya know t’ patterns on my wings?”

“Oooooooh no.”

“Oooooooh yes! Ah don’t think ah’ve talked t’ mah family since ah left t’ Sea kingdom! 25 years, Flo! Not t’ mention, her  _ brother _ is here,  _ mah uncle.  _ The royal brothers are very close, so maybe he’ll tell me ‘bout mah dad!”

“Huaso, think for a second: You were just going on and on about how you’re very contagious,  _ especially _ in the water, and now you want to meet  _ Seawings _ while you’re  _ still wet from your own blood? _ ”

“Oh, right, gimme a heartbeat.”

He hops out of the river, shocking a few of the dragons nearby. He rolls in the sand until he’s mostly dry, then he rolls in the grass to get the sand off, then he wraps himself around Flo for a while to heat up. As soon as Huaso’s done, he shakes out each limb and walks up to his family to get some information out of them.

“Thank the moons I’m a doctor…”

\--

The roars of the rainforest are nearly deafening.

Every Nightwing and Rainwing are flying to the pavilion sitting between their villages, connecting them to one kingdom.

And perhaps, a third kingdom has been introduced to it.

Most of the dragons here are parents, leaving their dragonets and hatchlings at home to avoid from interrupting her trial. So, naturally, most of the dragons are Nightwings, but there’s a few Rainwings who kept their eggs and brought close family members once Queen Glory helped them trace who was who and how distantly they were related by age and looks.

While the Daywing can hear a few of the Nightwings say that he was only here to watch Cherry, appointed to be one of Glory’s visible guards today, he didn’t even realize she would be here today.

Lepi wanted to ensure that this egg was going to live.

The Rainwing on trial is named Buttercup, although she betrays her name by staying a nasty dark green with flashes of red running down her spine. With her is a knocked out Skywing, bright orange and currently being tied up by the Rainwings’ healers when he tried to crush his own egg.

Glory waits for the pavilion to fill up, then lets out an unmistakable hiss- One lacking the Rainwing’s usual accent thanks to her dragonet years underground- and the crowd shuts up.

“Good morning, everyone. I’m sorry to the nocturnal Nightwings heading to sleep, the ones sleeping in to adjust to their new instincts, and the Rainwings who had to miss the morning suntime. Today, we’re going to be discussing the actions of one of our own Rainwings, Buttercup, and a visiting Skywing, Cassowary.

Now let’s start this as matter-of-factly as possible. Buttercup, is it true you lied about your feelings to Cassowary in order to manipulate him into showing you the rest of the continent, without permission of any of your queens at the time?”

“Well…” She holds the back of her neck nervously while looking at Cassowary, covered in tough vines and rope. “I wouldn’t say that  _ entirely _ , who knows what would have happened! Maybe I would have fallen in love with him if we went on this magical adventure-”

“Answer the question, Buttercup.”

“Yes. I did… The rainforest is boring and it’s so rare that Skywings ever bother scouting it like the Mudwings did during the war!”

“That’s currently unrelated, Yes would have sufficed. Since I can’t confirm anything from Cassowary, I’m just going to ask  _ you _ again. Is it true that you two had an egg several months before I took the throne and he didn’t know about it until yesterday when I asked for an egg check?”

“He was pretty obviously surprised after being gone for a whole month…  _ Again… _ So yes.”

A Nightwing actually leans over to Lepi to whisper something to him. “How did no one see the Skywing visiting every month?”

_ They didn’t notice when YOUR tribe kidnapped and experimented on them for weeks, not to mention that they’re completely peaceful and isolated, also Skywings can look pretty similar to Rainwings, so even if they saw him they wouldn’t have known he was from a different tribe unless he not only found the village but also risked going inside without knowing anything about Rainwings. _

He made the Nightwing so uncomfortable that she scooted away from him. Now that Lepi’s looking at her, he can see that she has a bit of a venom-made scar on her side. No wonder she was so offended, she was an experimenter.

“-So I guess the question to the audience is-” Oh, he wasn’t paying attention, damnit random Nightwing! “What do we do about an attempted murder of an unhatched dragon, and a Rainwing who refuses to take responsibility and nearly abandoned the egg herself without even leaving it in the hatchery?”

“To be fair! I was worried about the  _ other _ hatchlings! Imagine how scared they would have been if there was a hybrid there!”

Deathbringer appears from behind Glory and shouts “Imagine how scared your own daughter would have been if she was left to die in the rainforest! Or if she knew that her father wanted to kill her for being “Wrong” or that you were thinking of dropping her in a river!”

Buttercup stutters, then huffs and turns red. She isn’t taking this seriously at all.

“The day is moving on, my tribes.” Glory refocuses their attention onto her and the egg. “As you know, I only became queen 8 months ago, this egg is older than my era of rule. She’s going to be hatching any day now and she can’t go to her parents, there’s no resources in the Night village to support a hatchling with a completely different biology, and none of the Rainwings are willing to adopt her thanks to my own rule of keeping related families closer.”

She sighs, clearly upset that her own rule backfired so soon. The dragons in the audience mutter amongst themselves, a few wondering if they’re able to take the egg in before someone else brings up a solid point as to why they shouldn’t, or just being disgusted that the egg exists as a hybrid. Meanwhile, Glory seems to be thinking as hard as she can, her eyes keep looking between the egg and Deathbringer. Is she wondering if she should raise the egg as an heir? But the Nightwings will never accept a hybrid that isn’t  _ part _ of their own tribe like Peacemaker is. Not to mention that Glory’s only 7, there’s no way she’ll be able to balance ruling over two tribes  _ and _ raising an heir for now.

While everyone is arguing and distracted, Buttercup starts sneaking for the egg.

_ Oh no you don’t, hatchling killer. _

She’s stunned, her muscles completely frozen before her head starts swiveling around to look for the source of the voice. He’s never actually talked to her, she was barely in the Rainwing village, making sure her egg was hidden long enough to show Cassowary.

_ You back away from her right fucking now, you’re unfit to be a mother and I’m not going to let you kill her. _

She sneaks back to her spot, flicking different shades of blue and white to express her fear.

Lepi gets an idea. If Buttercup is unfit, who would be, regardless of resources or tribe?

Well, he doesn’t actually know who would be  _ fit _ to be a parent,  _ but he knows who wants to be one! _ And right now, he’s the best option.

Lepi flies right up to Glory, pissing off Deathbringer and shocking the dragons below him. He projects his thoughts to everyone in the room.

_ I know who would take care of the egg, but I need to leave the rainforest and deliver it to the one dragon who knows where they are. I’ve overheard Huaso’s Sandwing friend talking about how he WOULD have had an egg, but couldn’t. He’s incredibly good to Peacemaker and deserves to have this chance. Not to mention, he’s Huaso’s friend, who’s a HYBRID. Notably, part Skywing? She won’t be alone with them… _

Glory looks across the crowd to see any objections. No one speaks up.

“Go.”

Lepi’s already swooping down and gently cradling the egg in his talons. He holds her close to his chest, trying to keep her warm with his fire. Lepi stares at Buttercup for a heartbeat before flying out of the pavilion and heading towards the tunnel leading to the desert.

_ Just hold on, you’ll be someplace that’ll let you be free, unlike here. _

He can feel her respond against the wall of her shell, merely  _ hours _ from hatching.

\--

Snowfall knows about animus magic disappearing.

She went to see Jerboa II without letting anyone in the second circle know. Of course, the ex-animus told her that it just disappeared, so she couldn’t expand the wall around the whole kingdom. And neither can Lenny.

Maybe he should bring back animus magic?

But then whoever got rid of it will just do it again! And this time, he’s losing it  _ for good _ in case they find out about his protection spell.

Well, what is he supposed to do? He can’t just be the  _ only _ magic user in the world, he wasn’t naturally hatched with it! He could risk losing his soul if he goes a step too far, he  _ needs _ someone to teach him what to do.

Huaso was  _ west, _ wasn’t he?

He better check the smithy first.

A short flight later and he’s sauntering into the smithy as if he owned it. No one’s here, yet. Although the sound of wingbeats behind him are promising!

“What are ya doin’ in my shop?!”

“Ah! Huaso! There you are, you know you’ve been gone for a month, right?”

“Yeah…”

When Huaso touches down and enters the smithy, Lenny can notice some obvious differences. First, he looks healthier, his face and gills are normal instead of vibrant. There’s something else, something about the way he seems to mentally light up when Eddie follows after him, and how lightly he trots around as he makes sure everything stayed in place while he was gone.

He was happier.

“Now then, what in the moons happened to you? If you’re curious, no I didn’t do much with my magic, I’m sure you already told the big guy here. Although I was kind enough to clean up your mess of scales!”

“Ya left the glowscales…”

“I’ll be taking those, thank you!” Eddie swoops them into a pouch around his chest, grinning cheerfully.

Huaso explains to Lenny that he was away on a private island, regrowing his scales and resting in a lake after a firescales bumped into his back. Apparently, one of his biggest weaknesses is fire thanks to his weak skin, or used to be. He’s as sharp as a proper Skywing now, having naturally grown scales and reinforced skin.

“Well, that sure sounds like something, but we have a problem…” He leans close to Huaso to whisper, ignoring the other’s grimacing snarl. “Animus magic is  _ gone _ . I kept mine because of course I protected it, but I don’t know about  _ you _ .”

“... It is?”

“You still have it?”

“Hold on.”

He touches his own goggles, then lets his claws drop, distressed.

“They’re obviously still enchanted, otherwise ah’d be dealin’ with a killer headache… But my spell of “Let me hear what mah goggles do” didn’t work… Ah was hoping yer lying.”

“I’m not. My suspicions were right, and considering that you didn’t know, you’re not the cause. I’m going to grant you your powers back, but don’t bring  _ everyone’s _ powers back, I only trust you to  _ not wipe it out again. _ Wait, actually…”

Lenny rests a paw on Huaso’s shoulder, again, ignoring the snarling. (Two snarls from two dragons this time!) He thinks over the words of his spell for a while, before settling on; “Give Huaso his animus powers back in their entirety, BUT! They can only be beneficial to him, his  _ family _ , and  _ me. _ He can’t give other’s animus powers. He can’t bring  _ back _ animus powers.”

The hybrids stare at him blankly. Then, Huaso actually  _ barks _ in anger.

“WHAT T’ FUCK?! WHAT’S T’ POINT OF GIVING ME ANYTHING AT  _ ALL _ IF AH CAN’T EVEN USE ‘EM?! AND WHAT THE FUCK’S WIT THE “ONLY BENEFICIAL TO HIM” SHIT?!? AH FUCKING DESPISE SAYIN’ THIS IN RELATION T’ YOU OF ALL DRAGONS BUT YA SOUND LIKE MY DAD.”

Lenny was genuinely surprised, he gave Huaso his powers back, and he only used tiny spells for himself anyway, why was he so mad? Was there someone who  _ wasn’t _ Lenny or immediate family that needed his powers? Probably not, or else he would have known his powers were gone much sooner.

Eddie leaps to Huaso’s side and wraps the other with his wings. Huaso calms down, but chooses to still glare and growl at Lenny. It’s obvious he isn’t welcome here, so Lenny heads out without a word.

He’ll realize the opportunity sooner or later, not that he has much of a choice. Lenny didn’t say it outloud, but he kiiiinda mentioned “Oh, and make sure he can’t revoke those rules with his own powers.”

Lenny’s just going to come back a few days later, check up on him, see if Huaso’s willing to teach him a few things, see if they can find the cause of animus removal.

\--

The Leafwings had to go. Resources on the island were running low, and they had to get Pyrrhia’s help to fight off the Hivewing’s Queen… And a sentient plant, as Sundew exclaimed earlier.

Eddie already went with Huaso to possibility, he’s making sure Huaso doesn’t just drop out of the air suddenly since he was in the water for so long. Sure, okay, they can have their time alone and such.

Flo and Fred are escorting the Leafwings to their next island, where they’ll rest again before confronting Pyrrhia. According to their map, they might end up in the Ice kingdom, and Flo is the perfect dragon to keep them warm enough to survive. Fred was just curious about them, so he stuck around. Ted forced Flo to keep an eye on him, so hopefully he doesn’t cause much trouble.

As for Ted himself? He’s letting them get ahead, then he’s going to follow Eddie to have a few words with Huaso. If they’re going to be together, he’s going to make sure Huaso understands the consequences of breaking Eddie’s heart if he dares.

After a couple of hours pass, he starts flying East.

He’s never flown this route alone, he was always with Fred or Sugar or Flo. It was weird, and for a few wingbeats, he was scared that he would get lost without them telling them where he was every hour. But, he makes it back to the desert and starts heading towards Possibility. There’s no way Eddie left Huaso by now.

Once again, he’s surprised by the sight that greets him.

Some kind of Night/Ice hybrid is handing them an egg silently. Huaso stares at it sadly, muttering to the white dragon about some kind of Skywing egg? Meanwhile, Eddie is holding the egg softly, sitting on his haunches and curling his neck around it as gently as he can. Then, the couple’s alone as the mystery guy flies away. They head back inside.

They’ve been dating for a day and they already adopted someone.

That… Sounds like something Eddie would do, actually.

Ted hesitantly knocks on the door after waiting a few hundred heartbeats, and Huaso opens it.

“Teddie?”

“Just Ted, thank you. I’m here to check up on my brother and find out why you’ve been delivered an egg?”

Huaso lets him inside, then quickly closes the door again. He crawls to a small pile of cloth and pillows holding the egg, curling around it. Ted could have  _ never _ imagined Huaso acting “motherly” but here he is, being motherly to an egg that was just thrown at him out of nowhere.

Ted sits by his older brother, who had his tail wrapped around Huaso’s and started curling around the other side of the egg. He taps Eddie on the wing to get his attention.

“So how in the moons did this happen?”

“Lepi said her parents were going to kill her, and no one in the rainforest would have been able to raise her, so he brought her to us… Specifically me, apparently… Can you imagine? Being someone’s first choice to take care of an abandoned hatchling?”

The egg suddenly starts shaking and panic spreads across all of their faces. The first one to move is Eddie. He places a claw on top of the shell and starts pressing into it until it goes through the outer layer of it.

“EDDIE?!” Huaso shouts, leaning over to try and pry his claw out.

“Shh sh sh sh! I… I need to do this… She’ll be okay, I know what I’m doing… That doesn’t sound great coming from me, but this is something I’m completely confident about.”

… Ted knows what he’s doing.

He lightly pushes Huaso back and nods, showing that he agrees with his brother. Eddie carefully slices through the egg until bits of green and red poke through it. Then, he takes off a whole piece of it. A hatchling crawls out easily.

Her eyes blink up at Eddie, Ted backs away before she mistakes him for a parent. She seems perfectly healthy, despite the fact that Eddie dragged her out of her egg. She’s clearly not a Mudwing hybrid, so how did Eddie’s Bigwing instincts still work on her?

She explored her nest, clawing up a few of the pillows, although her new parents didn’t care. Then she stumbled around and sniffed both of them, getting familiar. She yawns and leans against Huaso’s side, falling asleep.

“What do we name her?” Eddie asks.

“Lilla.” Huaso quickly answers.

The brothers look at him, confused. That was way too quick, how long has he been thinking about dragonets? Also, what kind of name was Lilla?

Huaso took their looks as a completely different question. “She’s part Rainwing and she reminds me of t’ reddish pink flowers from the water lilies in the rainforest’s lakes… But instead of just Lily, she gets a more unique name? Like… Like we do?” He shyly lowers his head.

Eddie smiles and scoots closer to Huaso. “It’s nice… Fitting for her… Oh! Wait! Huaso!”

Suddenly, Eddie reaches over and touches Huaso’s paw. “You should make her immune to your illnesses.”

“How? The rules…”

“If we’re  _ actually _ adopting her, then she’s family, right? Like how the Mudwings adopted you as your brother, even though you aren’t related to them?”

Huaso hums and scoops up Lilla, who kept sleeping peacefully. Huaso presses his snout to Lilla’s wing, nudging her a bit to get a response. She sleepily wraps her tail over him.

“ _ You will be immune t’ anything ya can catch from me, any disease, illnesses, or germs. T’ show that this enchantment is in effect… Your scales change into the color you’ll prefer best when ya have full control over their color changing abilities… _ ”

Lilla goes from a pale green and red, to a deep blood red, with a vibrant green chin, even paler green chest, pink spots down her body, and a black face with black spikes running down her entire body. Then, she’s back to normal.

Everyone stares at her in awe. So Huaso wasn’t lying about being an animus? But what were those rules he mentioned?

“Huaso… The black spikes… She wouldn’t happen to be imitating my frill, would she?”

Eddie smiles at his boyfriend as his barb wags in excitement. Huaso smiles back. “Ah guess we’ll know when she can speak. Ah think she keeps her green because of mah glowscales…”

The two continue to smile at each other, until Huaso puts Lilla back in her new favorite sleeping spot (Right against Huaso’s stomach) and lays his head. Eddie lays his next to Huaso’s, bumping their snouts.

Ted feels more than a little awkward just standing here, so he taps his brother on the shoulder again.

“Hm?”

“I should probably head home and tell Dad…  _ Everything _ about this? That you’re a dad now?  _ He’s _ a Grandpa now? Apparently? Also I should probably just get out of here in general.”

“Ah, alright… Ted?”

“Hm?”

“Visit tomorrow? And bring the family if you can? I… I want them to meet Lilla… Please.”

Ted nods. “Alright, I promise I’ll come back tomorrow, even if no one can visit,  _ I _ will.”

Eddie smiles softly at his younger brother and turns back to watch Huaso, who’s already fallen asleep. Teddie sneaks out of the smithy and flies back to Python to tell him as much as he can.

Looks like Eddie won’t be able to help with the whole “Leafwing” issue, and Ted was sort of planning on having Huaso lead them to the rainforest, since he’s the most well traveled of them all. The Leafwings said that a few of them can actually  _ speak _ to plants, so hopefully the rainforest would be the perfect place for them. Sundew was incredibly good at her leafspeak, too, she could make flowers bloom out of nowhere!

But he doesn’t want to force Huaso to travel across the entire continent if he still needs to readjust to his new scales. Not to mention Lilla, she shouldn’t have to risk traveling with her father, or having her father disappear for days before she turns a month old…

Ted might be able to gather a group of his own to help them? Fred is a great asset, and it’s always a good idea to have him close to keep an eye on him. Flo seems pretty useful, especially if he needs to lead them through the Ice kingdom. Another animus would be nice, too.

He’ll be useful, he’ll help them.

But first, everyone deserves some time to rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand that's it! Just a big cliffhanger for another arc that isn't completed yet!
> 
> I already finished the entirety of this arc before I even thought of making a twitter poll, so I'm going to be updating arc 2 every couple of weeks instead of just 1, since I'm not even halfway through it at this point.


End file.
